Infinite Stratos: Inevitability
by Generic Zero
Summary: At the end of the day there are very few things guaranteed not to change. Human Ingenuity is one of them. Sometimes all humanity needs is a slight nudge to get back on track… That little nudge goes by the name of Takafumi Arisawa. An Armored Core Tech meld. AU.
1. Prequel: AC Direwolf

Long Summary:

Contrary to popular belief the number of IS cores were not evenly distributed. The permanent members of the UN Security Council, and Japan for obvious reasons, received far more cores than simple member states and several times has this number advantage been used to bully a lesser country into merely doing as it was told. Naturally this did not sit well with some people. Funding from several different countries, including Canada and Spain, and Scientific assistance from several important institutes as well as a massive cover-up performed by several countries that had fallen behind in the IS arms race, including even France, was all that was needed to set in motion the production of a massive series of projects designed to shift the balance of power once more, just as Tabane had done several years previous.

* * *

Chapter 1

Prologue: AC Direwolf

* * *

'Where am I?'

'What happened?'

'Am… am I bleeding?'

Confused, disoriented, and scared a figure climbed to one knee and tried to stand. Sounds of battle, death, destruction, and general chaos echoed around him, or rather from the nearby streets. Vaguely he realized that he was standing within a warehouse, and vaguely he recognized the exact warehouse he stood within, even if at that moment he could not quite comprehend where exactly he recognized it from. All he could comprehend right now was that he needed to get as far away from those… things as he possibly could. All that mattered was…

He thought of something. For the life of him he'd never be able to understand why he would think of this later in life, but the fact remains that he did.

"Nee-san! Could Nee-san be in danger?!"

Panic overtook him and he tried to climb up to his feet faster, only to fall back down when he caught sight of something he'd missed as he briefly scanned the room. A red construct, only about a meter taller than him, stood in a limp position in the center of the room; a mecha of some sort his mind logically supplied. Flashes of the chaos on the streets, what had brought him to this place, came to him.

A big lumbering tank desperately trying to fire off its last shot before being hit dead on by that terrible laser beam again, evidently igniting something within and causing it to explode. It was a piece of the armor plating that had hit him, blown him straight through the now blocked, and previously closed, front door. How he'd survived exactly he could never even begin to know.

All caused by a disproportionate pitch black… something, for it certainly was not an IS. He still remembered it's crimson 'eyes' turning to him at the very last second, right before he was hit. It took several seconds for him to calm down and rationalize that the thing before him looked nothing like that monster on the street.

"Is this 'Nee-san' important to you?" The boy's head desperately began to search the room for the source of the voice, eyes widening in surprise and paranoia. It did not take long for the voice to speak again, it's perfect mechanical deadpan only now allowing him to realize what was speaking, "I say again, Is this 'Nee-san' important to you?"

"Yes!" He could not stop himself from saying aloud, "Very…"

"I see…" the voice responded, "I believe that there is an engagement going on around this area. Is that why you are worried?"

"Yes…"

For several seconds the voice did not responded. When he did the answer was not something he expected, "Do you want the power to protect this 'nee-san' of yours?"

It was the boy's turn to take several seconds to respond, stunned as he was in so many ways, "What?" was all he managed to squeeze out.

"I said-" the voice began again without even a second's delay,

"I mean yes!" only to be cut off by the boy as he gathered his wits about him again. He'd no Idea why he said it like that, "I just want to make sure she's safe."

"… Even if you will likely need to fight to realize this goal…?"

The question briefly threw him for a loop, but his answer was already set in stone. As resolute as he could possibly manage to sound he said, "Yes, I will."

The voice did not respond. For several seconds the boy began to doubt its words.

For what seemed like several minutes the boy could only stare at the metal construct that he'd long since figured was the source of the voice.

Just as he was about to lose hope it spoke once more, "What is your name?"

"What?"

"What is not a name." the voice stated, "What is your name?"

The boy hesitated but answered truthfully, "Ichika… Orimura Ichika."

* * *

Chaos. Just as with the city streets, chaos was the only words able to describe the situation within the command center of Crimson Ocean PMC's main headquarters which made its home within the very innermost sector of the city they were in, Kyofu.

"They've destroyed the defensive line at Samui Street!" a male voice frantically called over the chaos.

"Damn it, they're almost within the factory district proper…" an elderly voice responded, "Is anyone close enough to engage?"

"Only the Experimental division, sir!" a feminine voice called back, "There's Direwolf but…"

"But Direwolf doesn't have a pilot yet…" the elderly man smashed his fist down onto the table he was standing at with a cry of, "Damn it!"

"SIR!" the first voice shouted earning the attention of the at least 60-year-old man whom acted as the Commander of the city's defense force, "AC Direwolf has registered a pilot, it's coming online!"

"What? That's the first good news today, who is it?"

"I don't know, Arisawa-sama. The pilot is merely registered as a Orimura Ichika but I've never heard the name before."

"Orimura? Isn't that the family name of the former Mundo Grosso Champion?" the feminine voice noted,

"It doesn't matter!" The elderly commander, Arisawa, barked, "Get some more forces over there now, I don't care who it is, we can't let them through the Factory district! Only the Residential district is past that. Norimura, what is the Direwolf pilot doing?"

The first male voice, Norimura apparently, responded, "Sir! He appears to be engaging the unknowns."

* * *

The Crimson Painted construct, AC Direwolf, flew through the streets of the city moving ever closer to the source of all the destruction. The three Golem-like beings had regrouped just within the factory district, in the middle of all the wreckage generated by the several dozen tanks and helicopters that they'd just destroyed. They merely stood there, running the hypersensors they used as 'eyes' across the surrounding buildings, searching for something it would seem. Suddenly one jerked away from its search pattern, turning 75 degrees to scan something else it deemed more important.

It did not move in time to stop the shield attached to the Direwolf's right leg from smashing straight into its head and severely damaging the electronics contained within. This apparently included whatever was controlling it as the pitch-black golem fell inactive immediately after being knocked backwards.

"Hostile IS neutralized." The same mechanical voice stated, likely to the pilot.

The other two turned, their hypersensors already finishing the job of the other and completely scanning the new visitor. Were there actually pilots in those two IS they'd likely be terrified at their third counterparts immediate death. The roughly 3-meter tall war machine brought a weapon to bear upon each of the remaining golems who themselves began to move in opposite directions and bring their own weaponized arms to bear upon the crimson construct.

Direwolf fired first; it's arms keeping track of both of the two golems as it began gliding back on its relatively small boosters to take cover behind a nearby building. Its rounds had little effect, merely pinging off the now fully activated shields of the two other machine, as was the best one could hope for when using glorified tank guns against an IS. However, it was chipping away at the energy reserve powering the shields. Eventually this would drop the shields and allow the IS itself to be damaged. That was how nearly everything worked regarding IS nowadays, kinetic weapons such as the upscaled assault rifles in the hand of the Direwolf, just had a slightly harder time with it.

As the machines fired the Direwolf dodged right with a sudden burst of extra speed causing the shots of the golems to go astray and hit the wreckage of one of the tanks instead, crushing the hull of the wreckage even more. Rushing behind a building Ichika instinctively did not stop moving until he'd ducked into an alley where he was fairly sure the golems would have problems finding him. Mechanically the powered armor proceeded to place the two rifles onto the shoulder storage rack freeing up its hands for other things, such as CQC. A small blinking device shot out of the upper rear armor and began floating serenely above Direwolf, whose own hypersensor glowed as it began spotting, scanning, and keeping track of the two Golems.

As one approached the entrance of the alley Direwolf pounced with a similar burst of speed as the one from before. Nearing the golem Ichika threw a punch, the armor plating on the leading fist opening up and deploying a small blade that swung forward with incredible force. The blade, and the fist behind it, collided with the shielding covering the head of the Golem, which had only barely begun to point it's weaponized arm towards the Direwolf. The blade alone could've easily been blocked by the IS's shields, as could the punch, but both the force behind the punch and the massive force behind the knife managed to shatter the thin barrier and led the knife on a clear path through the head of the Golem-like IS. It collapsed just like its brother unit before it.

"Hostile IS neutralized."

"Where-" Ichika blurted sweeping Direwolf's recon unit enhanced hypersensor across the surrounding building and seeing nothing. It was not Direwolf who answered. A rain of crimson beams, fired off from what appeared to be a pair of gatling cannons, collided with the back of the machine scorching the painted armor black from heat. Ichika instinctively jumped, the boosters on the Direwolf's back igniting to give him a much-needed boost. The golem stopped firing, obviously having lost its lock from the sudden maneuver, and begun swinging it's obscenely disproportionate limbs towards the floating AC.

At the apex of the jump Direwolf 's AI deactivated the boosters and let the machine fall to the ground below, a very short burst of beams hitting its side armor as it fell. In cover again Ichika reactivated the boosters and began moving away from where he landed, a small alley in which he barely fit. Just as he exited the alley the last golem reappeared, it's right arm cocked back and ready to swing. Ichika used the speed boost again to dodge to the right and allowing the massive fist to hit the building behind the spot where he was previously located. Just as he was about to reengage his knife and hopefully finish the Golem, the IS backhanded striking the chest armor of the AC, denting it severely, and sending the manned machine flying several meters back and into a warehouse.

"AP down 30%, take evasive maneuvers."

Climbing to his feet he barely managed to dodge out of the way of the follow up gatling laser fire from the Golem. The firepower obliterated several rows of crates that were stored within the building and caused an explosion near the rear of the building. Ichika was not given time think about what he was going to do before the nearest section of the walls was smashed in by the Golem, clearly seeking to engage in melee combat again. Ichika did not waste the opportunity, throwing a punch with his right hand, the blade swinging out like clockwork-

And rather uselessly slicing it's way into the Golems left arm, which had been used as a physical shield. The golem positioned its right arm into a point blank firing position, clearly seeking to finish the battle right there. Instinctively Ichika punched with his other fist, the blade swinging out and slicing its way into the disproportionately small stomach area of the unmanned IS. Without even acknowledging what he had done, or the laser fire that had begun pelting his power armor's already weakened plating, Ichika gouged the blade straight up, slicing through tons of electronics no doubt worth several billion dollars.

Then it all stopped, Ichika vaguely saw a soft yellow glow for a split second from the cut but it quickly dimmed to nothingness. The IS went limp, a series of small explosions rocking the small frame as it fell. The Direwolf retracted the two blades back into the starting positions, the armored plates that covered them sliding back to hide them from view, or rather protect the blade Ichika noted.

"Hostile IS neutralized. No hostile unit's detected." Direwolf's AI's mechanical voice droned, "Combat mode disengaged. Normal mode activated."

It took several moments for Ichika to realize that he's just fought three IS and somehow came out the victor but when he did he could only sigh in relief. Several tense seconds passed as Ichika let the Adrenaline slowly drain from his system before he recalled something he needed to do and exclaimed, "Ah, a phone! I need to find a-"

"What is the number you need to call?" the AI droned.

"…Huh?"

"When needed this unit can make calls using telephone reception when more secure communication methods are unusable." The AI explained, "Would you like to send a call, raven?"

Vaguely Ichika filed that unfamiliar term off for later questioning but had more important things he needed to do at the moment, "Yes, I would like to call my nee-san."

"Orimura Chifuyu…?" the voice droned. Vaguely Ichika acknowledged that it was a question.

"Yes!" Ichika blurted, "I mean yes, please call her for me Direwolf-san."

"Acknowledged, raven."

There was a short pause before Ichika heard the sound of a phone ringing in his ears. It rung two and a half times before it was answered and he heard the telltale voice of his elder sister utter in a semi-guarded manner, "Who is this?"

She had no idea how much relief merely hearing her voice caused him.

"Chifuyu-nee, it's me." She sounded like was about to say something but was cut off by Ichika continuing on his own, "Where are you? I was so worried."

"Where am I…" the realization that something had happened dawned on her, "What happened? You're not hurt are you?"

Vaguely Ichika realized that if she had no idea what happened then she obviously wasn't in town. Then it dawned on him that he did all that for someone who wasn't even in danger in the first place. Were he not so relieved by the news he'd have been banging his head into the wall for the next hour at least. Without missing a beat he answered, "No, I'm fine, I was worried about you. The town was attacked by some IS. It's fine now though."

"W-what?" It took a second for him to realize just how ridiculous what he'd just said really sounded. While Kyofu did house a rather notable PMC company and several military related manufacturing plants it had nothing that truly warranted a full on commando assault with _IS_. At least he didn't think so; those tanks he'd seen _were_uniquely odd. She coughed before continuing, clearly trying to maintain her composure, "Are you sure they were IS…?"

Vaguely Ichika casts a glance down at the monstrous IS at his feet, It's chest still torn open and the glow long since subsided, "Yes, nee-san. I saw them myself."

"I see…" his sister paused, "I'll be right home."

Ichika was about to ask where she was when the mechanical deadpan of Direwolf's AI stopped him, "Call disconnected." Ichika did not comment. His sister had a nasty habit of doing that when she was in a hurry. Part of him was flattered that she thought he deserved that much attention, he certainly didn't think so.

"Ah… Direwolf-san, how do I get out of…?"

The AI cut him off again, "You don't. ACs are stored in the same manner as personal IS. Would you like for me to store myself, raven?"

"Yes please."

The change was instantaneous. Since Direwolf was so much taller than he was this meant that he ended up falling down at least 2 feet, which threw him off balance as he landed. But in the end he was back in his normal clothes and Direwolf was gone, or rather he was now in the form of a fairly normal red bracelet.

Ichika sighed deeply, he was sure that his life would only get more… interesting from here on out…

* * *

A/N: I had this sitting around on my harddrive so I figured I'd upload it if for no other reason then to gauge interest. I'm really on the fence about continuing this as I have two more projects waiting to be worked on but... Whatever. Now that school has started again and 4/10 of my periods are 40 minute study halls (WHY?) I suppose I _should_ have more time to write...

- Generic


	2. Prequel: Arisawa

Disclaimer: I do not own Infinite Stratos or Armored Core. In fact I need to rent a joke to put here.

* * *

Chapter 2

Arisawa

* * *

"Is there any other reason we are here? I have already answered all of your questions to the fullest of my abilities."

Despite standing before the entire UN Security Council one man easily in his 60s didn't show even a hint of intimidation.

One of the many figures within the room, the representative from Russia, frowned as she replied, "You continue to dance around the issue. Why would you, a Private Military Contractor, have access to such… powerful weaponry, let alone the funding required to operate them and keep them in optimal condition?"

"Why?" The elderly man in a crimson suit, Takafumi Arisawa, repeated with only the slightest hint of amusement, "Because that is exactly what I have been asked to do. Let me ask of you, all of you, why exactly you have cut back on all other military expenditures except the single one that happens to be in extremely limited supply? So little supply that despite your consistent claims of having a perfectly balanced distribution of IS cores and your little 'Alaska Treaty' there are still many countries with only one or two IS cores while others, notably _most_ members of the Permanent Security Council have as many as two _dozen_. Many more than they actively use I'd like to note."

"Excuse me?" the American council woman, a former National Representative pilot, uttered,

"You know exactly what I am hinting at." Arisawa scoffed, "The United States is a major offender here, in fact I dare say that the United States itself is the cause of it all."

The French Representative raised an eyebrow and an arm to cut off the American Representative's imminent reprisal, "Pardon, Arisawa-dono, but I believe that I am not the only one who wishes to hear your reasoning for this accusation."

Arisawa spared the man, one of only two male representatives amongst the current Security Council, a glance before answering, "Quite perceptive. Can anyone tell me how many IS cores the United States has compared to every other nation of those two continents combined?"

The American representative immediately paled realizing what he was getting at immediately. Again it was the French representative that cut her off, "The United States has exactly 24 IS cores, as you said exactly 4 are unused, 15 are still implanted within mass production early second generation models, and the last core hasn't been mentioned in any official document for the past few years. Of the Americas only 1 other country has their own IS cores, Canada whom has 4 inactive cores." He discreetly cast a glance at the only other male representative in the room, the representative of Canada Maximilian Thermidor, "Of note Canada's only IS institute, Rayleonard Corporation, has had so many restrictions placed upon it that _all_ IS research has stopped in fear of invoking UN intervention."

"And that is exactly why." Arisawa smirked, "With the exact military balance in the Americas right now it is quite clear that the only one whom actually HAS military power is the United States. Canada does not like that very much, nor does Mexico. Hence, on the world stage the only American nation with any notable political or military power is in fact the United States." Arisawa paused to gauge the reaction of everyone else in the room. It seemed several members of the Security Council did not even know of this rather simple fact and several, notably Canada and France, were rather amused by the whole thing. No surprise there, "Despite their limited supply when the United States decided to divert a truly staggering portion of their military budget to _just_ the research and development of the IS cores many of you followed. Those that held off were forced to follow as such events as the Mundo Grosso championship became bigger and more illustrious. This is precisely why the Armored Cores were created. As for how I managed to get the funding to build these machines, well like I said not everyone has many IS cores to sink their military funding on." He let the statement hang.

"Pardon the interruption," The representative from Germany stepped in to stop the American representative from further making a fool of herself, "but you appear to be hinting that this is a much larger project than we can see."

Arisawa spared her a glance, "And what is it exactly that you _can_ see? Besides the Direwolf and it's pilot I mean." Those who looked as if they intended to say something after the question backed away at the statement. After several seconds Arisawa continued as he had planned, "Exactly, you know absolutely nothing at all about the project besides AC Direwolf. At last count there were exactly 294 ACs and 231 registered Ravens, pilots, distributed amongst the nations whom have expressed interest in these projects. More ACs are being produced as we speak and more pilots are being trained. I'd say that this is a rather large project, wouldn't you? And yet you still know only of the Direwolf and Orimura Ichika whom singlehandedly defeated three clearly experimental IS. This says a lot about the scope of this project, no?"

"That brings us to another issue," Arisawa turned to address the one whom had spoken, the representative of the United Kingdoms, "You mentioned that this AC Direwolf defeated three IS, this raises the question of where exactly said IS's cores are currently located."

Arisawa rolled his eyes, he knew full well that none of the countries those before him represented had actually sent said IS cores and were merely looking for a way to obtain free cores themselves, "The cores were very weakly shielded, two of the cores were extracted, one of which was given to one of our partners and another we are currently trying to integrate into an AC for testing purposes. The last core was shattered by Orimura to defeat the IS it was installed in, hence why we know of the poor shielding. Before you ask, no, the Identification codes could not be found on any of them."

"If you cannot give either the cores or any Identification Codes, why exactly should we believe that these IS were actually IS and not _you're_ ACs." The American representative accused,

"Because ACs don't, or rather can't, move like IS." The Canadian representative, Maximilian Thermidor, drawled. Everyone already long since figured out that Canada was one of the donors Arisawa had mentioned before so he had no reason not to comment, "ACs don't have PIC for example and so have to rely solely upon 'boosters,' think weak rockets without the need for fuel and a massive power drain, to move quickly and gain altitude. Power is another issue; while ACs can attain great height when needed they cannot legitimately fly since gaining and maintaining altitude requires such an absurd amount of energy. Eventually their engines would explode from the effort."

"That does not sound like an improvement." The Russian representative deadpanned,

"AC production started in the middle of last month." Arisawa stated in an equally dead voice as a response. His only response was a disbelieving silence from everyone else in the room, as he had intended, "Everyone in on this project produces their own cores, parts, weapons, equipment, internals, etcetera, and passes them around them around. The only parts of the Direwolf that were locally produced were the Murakumo physical blades and several internal components. The rest were made elsewhere."

"Furthermore," Thermidor continued, "As you have seen, an AC can easily defeat IS. Rayleonard for instance specializes on thermal energy weapons with an extremely high damage output. The first generation AC weapon the KRSW was designed to punch through IS shields in as little as 5 hits. Likewise the Dragonslayer energy blade is made to have comparable anti-IS capabilities to Orimura Chifuyu's infamous Yukihira, albeit much shorter. They both have a second-generation counterpart."

"Is there anything else you wish to know or can I get back to my Grandchildren?" Arisawa deadpanned, "I mean it's not like you can _do _anything at this point, without military action that is. And really, do you truly wish to chance that? The ACs are not the _only_ thing we've been working on you know."

No one voiced a response. The threat held enough weight behind it that no member of the council, bar those whom were involved with the project, could truly say that they were indeed willing to take that chance at the moment. Not as long as they didn't know who was in on this project and who was not…

* * *

"Is it wise to mock them like this?"

The meeting had ended and both Arisawa and Thermidor had left together. The moment they had left the chambers Thermidor has loosened his collar and unbuttoned his jacket. He wore the exact same style of businesswear that Arisawa did, albeit a size smaller and in black instead of crimson. It had been Thermidor whom had spoken.

"As long as no one does anything stupid we'll be fine." Arisawa calmly replied, "As it stands they'll likely place ACs under the Alaska Treaty in an effort to keep tabs on them."

"Yes, I'd figured as much." Thermidor rolled his eyes, "Although, the French representative almost implicated himself back there. Good thing they were too focused on us to notice."

"Indeed."

They walked in silence for several seconds before Thermidor seemed to notice something, "Wait, If they place ACs under the Alaska Treaty would that not mean that…"

"That the younger pilots go to IS Academy?" Arisawa interrupted, implying several including Ichika Orimura as he said that, "Yes, yes, they would indeed. I'm almost certain that they'll use the chance to try and disprove the AC's perceived invincibility. Have you any pilots to send by the way?"

"I believe Berlioz's daughter and Anjou's son are both of age."

"Maria Berlioz and Orleans de Anjou?" Arisawa said with an eyebrow raised, "Bringing out the big names immediately eh?"

"Bah, like you aren't going to send Shinji and Amaya. Not to mention the name Orimura carries quite a lot of weight about with it."

Arasawa laughed, Shinji and Amaya Hikaru were his grandchildren. Shinji was also the one who actually created the AC cores. While he was admittedly nowhere near Tabane's level of brilliance he was certainly up there. Amaya for her part was one of the projects earliest Test Pilots and was still one of the most successful pilots on record, at least in the simulations and field tests. But putting that aside they were both still just regular teens and had been pestering him to find a place for them go on vacation for months, "You know me too well, Thermidor."

As the exited the building and Arisawa made ready to enter his waiting limo Thermidor spoke once again, "One last thing, Arisawa-dono…"

"Yes? What is it?"

"About the American Councilor…" Thermidor said hesitantly, "Is it truly wise to anger her like such? She could very easily push for a war with Canada and get it if were not careful."

Arisawa rolled his eyes, "Don't worry about it. Your plant has already received your shipment, you should have enough to at least repel any attack they could mount if you can play your cards right." Arisawa patted the other man on the back, "Don't worry, the American representative may seem brash but she truly is not. Besides, even if she does you wouldn't have to worry too much, it is Rayleonard who specializes in Anti-IS capabilities after all."

Thermidor merely rolled his eyes. Evidently he did not have the same faith his compatriot had.

* * *

Thump

I look dumbly down at the rather thick book that had just been slammed onto the table in front of me. I stared even dumber at the Uniform placed almost immediately next to it. Looking between them and my sister I could do nothing but stare dumbly and wait for her to say something. In the end she said nothing, merely fixed me with one of those glares of hers as if that explained something. In the end it was naturally me who decided to say something, "Ano… What're these for…?"

"After that stunt you pulled last week it was decided that you and this… AC Direwolf of yours are to be placed in IS academy starting next month." Chifuyu-nee finally said, "I expect you to have that fully read by the start of the school year."

"Eh?" She wanted me to read all of that? S-shit don't let her know you thought that. Quick thinking, "B-but I'm a guy." That's a reasonable argument right…?

"Master," Direwolf's AI droned, "What is the matter, it is shorter than my user manual after all so I don't see why you should have a problem reading it."

Oh curse you and your big mouth. Chifuyu-nee just gave me that look; you know the one that women give you when they know they have you cornered, "I expect you to have it read by the end of the month. GOT IT?"

"Y-Yes Chifuyu-nee!" I automatically snap out. With such a commanding presence I would hate to see her in a teaching position.

Why did I just get the feeling that I'm going to regret thinking that…?

When Chifuyu-nee was safely far down the hall the mechanical drone of Direwolf returned, much quieter as if trying to whisper, "Master… I think it's best to just always do what she says…"

"Yes… That's a great idea…" Good. It's learning the basics of living with Chifuyu-nee, "By any chance can you convert that to an audio book…?"

"Yes master." It made me so happy to hear those words. If it weren't for that I would never be able to read that… monster it called a handbook, "I can convert all forms of text to audio recording. Same plan as last time?"

It was referring to the recording length, "20 minutes recordings, yeah."

"Acknowledged. Raven."

"Oh uh…" I just remembered something, "By any absurd chance do you have a built in internet connection and browser or something? I want to check something but…"

"Yes I do." It's drone sounded confused, "I have absolutely no idea why, but I do." I didn't need to say anything more for it to do what I wanted. A floating holographic blue screen and keyboard appeared floating serenely in the air in front of me. Not questioning it, like many of the small oddities built into Direwolf, I immediately went onto Coogle and typed in the inquiry that had been bothering me since last month,

'Unknown machine takes down three unmanned IS? No, no, I know all about that. UN passes resolution: IS Academy open to AC pilots? That would've been nice to know beforehand. No, where is it? Ah there it is, video recordings of the battle. Now to see what exactly happened back there…'

* * *

A/N: I'm glad that quite a few of you seem to be enjoying this story so far. With this chapter the Prequels have come to a close and Chapter 3 will begin the first true arc. I have decided to continue with these shorter chapters and I will continue writing in first person as long as Ichika is in the entire scene.

I'd like to mention this, just because Takafumi Arisawa and Maximilian Thermidor are named after figures from the Armored Core verse It bares repeating that they are in fact just OCs. I haven't played Armored Core For Answer lately so I doubt I could keep them in character. In other words do keep in mind that Thermidor isn't a terrorist/revolutionary. I also briefly mentioned 4 OCs that will be included. Of them the only one who will actually be important to the plot will be Shinji, the creator of the ACs. The others are merely other Ravens.

I'm rambling at this point so I'll just stop now.

Please R&R and have a nice day.


	3. My First Day of School

Disclaimer: I do not own Infinite Stratos. Nor do I own Armored Core. In fact I'm renting the space for this very disclaimer.

* * *

Chapter 3

My First Day of School

* * *

You've got to be kidding me. When I heard that the school was accepting AC pilots, Ravens I corrected myself, I had thought that maybe, just maybe, there would be more men here. No luck it appears. Besides me there are only 2 in here, that foreign looking guy that was blatantly trying not to fall asleep and some guy whom was ever so casually flirting with the blonde next to him. For some reason I get the feeling I should know them… Regardless, it was just us three and a roomful of at least 30 girls, most of which were happily chatting away at inane subjects. With a sigh I realize that I know no one here, bar Direwolf if he counted. That just makes it worse…

Perhaps I should be glad that at least the girls found the other two more impressive eye candy than me. Thank god. I can happily do without the creepy stalker stares those two are getting. All I could do was try and keep a low profile and wait for the teacher to-

Just when I was thinking of the teacher an older girl in the school uniform all but broke down the door and marched straight on in up to the teacher's podium. Naturally this got everyone's attention. With a sigh she sat a packet down on the podium and spoke with a cheerfully upbeat tone, "Right. Since your teacher is too busy to make it here and I may or may not have been threatened into this I guess I'll have to be the one getting homeroom started." She sighed again. It was clear her cheery tone was fake, "I'm Tatenashi Sarashiki, the student council president. Let's begin roll call. Amatsu-"

I couldn't help but notice out of the corner of my eye that the girl next to me had visibly stiffened when this Tatenashi girl, I could've sworn that that was a boy's name, came in the room. I also noticed that she didn't take her eyes off Tatenashi as said girl continued speaking, as if she were confused.

I was mildly surprised when Direwolf chirped in at the name 'Amaya Hikaru' simply saying that she was a class S Raven that should not be engaged. He repeated the same warning word for word for the guy after her, 'Shinji Hikaru.'

'Wait if their both class S Raven, what class am I?' I thought to Direwolf. Yeah, I have no idea how that works; it just does for some reason.

'Class E.' Direwolf deadpanned.

'Is that bad?'

'You're in third to last place.'

'Wait what? But we-'

"Orimura-kun." Suddenly I become aware of the fact that Tatenashi's face was barely an inch away from my own.

"W-what?"

She smiled widely, evidently finding pleasure in my reaction, "I'm taking attendance Orimura-kun. I started with A and now I'm at O. Would you like to introduce yourself to your classmates?" That grin on her face...

"Hm-... Well, I'm Orimura Ichika. I'll be in your care."

After I said that all was silent until one of the other ravens, I think it was that Amaya Hikaru girl, rather loudly jeered, "BORIN-" until her eyes widened. Wonder wh-

PANG!

That is the sound that made a million brain cells cry out in pain only to be forever silenced by- Wait… this way of hitting, with suitable force, perfect angle, suitable speed…

'Master,' Direwolf chimed in, 'I believe the words you are looking for are Fuck My Life…'

That awkward moment when you realize that your sister just walked into the room and whacked you upside the head…

"C-Chifuyu-nee-"

PANG!

"You will call me Orimura-sensei as long as you're at this school." She ordered.

"Yes Orimura-sensei!" I snap out almost instinctively.

Several girls started snickering at our little sibling interaction. Although one in particular was rather loud about it-

PANG!

A cry of pain was heard as who I could only assume was Amaya Hikaru got smacked by the attendance book of pain and misery… The snickers predictably stopped immediately for the most part, although the supposed student council president still had an amused grin upon her face.

Chifuyu-nee coughed as she took over Tatenashi's spot at the teacher's podium and said, "Everyone, my name is Orimura Chifuyu, and my duty is that for this one year, I'll be training you in the operations and controls of IS. Everything I teach, you have to remember, and understand. To those who can't understand, I'll teach them till they can. My job is to thoroughly train you during your first year, from the age of 15 to 16. You can dislike my attitude, but you still have to do what I say." She smacked her hand on the podium hard enough to cause several girls to jump at the sudden noise. With barely any more delay she barked out one word in a manner I could only imagine would make any drill instructor proud, "Understood?"

'Master, I recommend covering your ears.' Direwolf said in his usual mechanical deadpan,

'Huh? Why would I need to-'

Too late.

The shrieks began, loud enough to disorient one such as myself. Thankfully neither the girl that sat next to me or the girl that sat behind me were one of the… fangirls.

"KYAAA—! It's Chifuyu-sama, it's the real Chifuyu-sama herself!"

"I've always been your fan!"

"I came to this school from North Kyuushuu because I admired you, onee-sama!"

"I'm so happy to be taught by Chifuyu-sama!"

"I'll gladly die for you, Chifuyu-sama!"

Chifuyu-nee's disheartened expression and subsequent facepalm upon realizing the exact proportion of the girls in her class that were evidently members of her fan club…

"It's always nice to see how many idiots can crawl out of the woodworks for the chance to learn under me…" she sighed, "Do these fools really only come here to attend my class or something?"

'Master please cover your ears!' I swear Direwolf just showed emotion for a second there… Regardless I follow his request now knowing better than to waste time questioning it.

…Only to find that to my horror merely covering my ears was not enough. Somehow they had managed to shriek even louder, so much so that merely my hands were not enough to keep the sound out!

"KYAAAHH! ONEE-SAMA! SCOLD US! SCOLD US MORE!"

As I waited until I could hear again I couldn't help but to reflect on the absurdity of my teacher being Chifuyu-nee… Wait didn't I joke about this possibly last month?

'You did master.'

I barely regained my sense of hearing to catch the trailing end of one of Chifuyu-nee's sentences that I just knew was intended for me, "…-led at even a simple greeting?"

Instinct told me to deny so I didn't. I think I'm starting to learn better…

"Yes Chifuyu-ne-" I barely catch the miniscule narrowing of her eyes and correct myself just in time to save myself from her wrath… I hope, "-Sensei."

"Eh?" the entire room seemed to have started whispering, "Do you think Orimura-kun is Chifuyu-sama's brother?"

I sigh and go back to ignoring it all as Chifuyu turns her attention to the student council president, I just realized I had already forgotten her name… and now that I think of it I don't think we finished roll call either.

'Tatenashi Sarashiki.'

'Thank you Direwolf.'

* * *

It really is quite nice having someone like Direwolf around to help. I can't help but to wonder if all the other ACs have an AI like this. Should ask one of the other later. As it turned out the rest of the day's classes went smoothly. Although that was mostly because Direwolf immediately defined anything I so much as thought I didn't know. Truly I'd be lost without him!

Although there was one problem...

You see, while the other two guys in class were apparently more attractive then me the fact that I'm Chifuyu-nee's brother more than equalized any differences this would've caused. Thus to my eternal displeasure I also ended up having a rather sizable fanclub. Even now they stood outside the classroom gossiping amongst themselves… I think it'd be better if one of them decided to just up and speak with me…

I was jerked from my thoughts as someone, someone male, stepped in front of my desk, real blatantly trying to grab my attention. I looked up at him, instantly recognizing him as Shinji Hikaru from the introductions. Realizing he had my attention he put on a friendly smile and pulled out a slip of paper, "Hey Orimura-sensei, wanted me to give you this."

Couldn't she have given it to me herself?

I take it uneasily and look at it, 'Room 1026?'

"1026? Damn, I have 1028." I look up at him, not quite comprehending why he had a problem with that. Evidently he realized this and explained, "Oh, do you perhaps not know? The dorm rooms are shared. Since this is, or rather was, an all girls school I was hoping I would be rooming with either you or that Canadian, but no such luck." He finished with a sigh.

Now that he mentions it that could be bad… What if I room with someone from my apparent fanclub… Or worse yet someone from HIS fanclub! I've heard rumors of how vicious fangirls can be!

'Calm down master, I can check who your roommate is if you wish.'

'Yes please!'

'Acknowledged.'

…Now that I think of it now would be a great time to ask Shinji-san about that, he would technically be my sempai right?

"Excuse me, Shinji-san, do all ACs have AIs on board? It wasn't mentioned in the Operations Manual."

Shinji briefly looked surprised. It took me a second to realize how abrupt that topic switch actually was, it's pretty hard to notice when I forget that only I can hear Direwolf. After a second though he just laughed, "Well yes, supposedly the IS have AIs contained within their cores as well. They're there to collect combat data and assist their Ravens in battlefield analyzation. It's rare but some cores deem it necessary to meddle in their Raven's personal affairs as well, tends to make the AC rather picky. I assume Direwolf is one of those?"

So all ACs have an AI but not all of them help their Ravens outside of combat? That makes sense I suppose, "Yeah, he just offered to find out who my roommate was and reminds me to do things I forgot about. He's a great help."

Shinji quirked an eyebrow for a second but went back to smiling not a second later. I probably wouldn't have even noticed had Direwolf not have constantly told me to notice the little things like that, "Glad to hear you two get along so well. Direwolf had almost been scrapped because it simply wouldn't accept a pilot."

I feel my eyes widen slightly, "Really?"

Shinji nodded, "Yeah. Would've been a shame, I spent so much time fine tuning his OS. He's the last of Arisawa Heavy Industry's prototype models you know."

I blink, hard. He worked on Direwolf's OS? Evidently he realized what I had been thinking and continued, "Oh right, I doubt anyone has told you yet. I'm the project lead for Project AC so if you have any questions Direwolf can't answer be sure to ask me."

"I'll… keep that in mind." So basically he's like Tabane but less eccentric… I hope.

Suddenly he snaps his fingers, "Oh right, one last thing, we've set up a workshop for you in Hanger 2, look for your name."

"Workshop?"

"Switching out equipment on an AC tends to be rather space consuming, at least compared to IS and their 'equalizers.'" Shinji pulled out a small map of the school from his blazer and opened it on my desk, the location of the workshops were clearly circled although… I had no idea how to actually get to the location marked as I didn't have a solid grasp on the campus yet. He left the map and moved to walk away, talking as he went, "If you have any problem finding it just find some girl named Kanzashi, I think she's the girl that sits next to you in class."

I moved to thank him but Direwolf interrupted me, 'Master, I have found that your roommate will be another Raven.'

So there's a chance my roommate will be a guy?

'I however couldn't find any information on what organization she belongs to or what AC she pilots, however I could find that she is a class D raven and relatively new at that.'

I sigh for visibly no reason. Man it could get awkward if I start arguing with Direwolf, I would just suddenly look angry and no one would know why… My roommate is a girl. That just sucks. At least she's not likely to be one of my fangirls, they mostly flocked to me solely because of my relation to Chifuyu-nee. At least I hope they did anyway…Then again it could still be one of Shinji or Orleans's fangirls, then I'd have to deal with a fangirl for one of my 'rivals' and that could only end badly.

'Master, Shinji-sama gave my core authorization to use quite a few early first generation parts belonging to Arisawa Heavy Industries and Rayleonard Corporation. I believe you should thank him for this later on. May I request that we go to a workshop soon? I would like to install some of these.'

'Sure thing Direwolf. Although...' I could actually hear my stomach audibly growl, I haven't had dinner yet, 'It could wait until tomorrow right?'

'Affirmative.'

* * *

"Room 1026…"

It had been surprisingly easy to find my room despite what that large number seemed to imply. As I confirmed the room number I twisted to knob to see if it was locked. It wasn't. Does that mean my roommate is already here? The door swings open with a 'Kacha' sound and I enter slowly. Immediately I could think of nothing more than how fancy it was. 2 large beds, arranged side my side with only a small divider separating them, looked amazingly fluffy and welcoming. I only needed to take a single feel to realize that at least the quilt appeared to deserve a large price tag.

"Who's there?"

A voice rung out from a door that I had not noticed, a bathroom I could reasonably assume. It sounded vaguely familiar, but not something I could put a name to.

"Oh right. I'm supposed to be getting a roommate. Darn, I would've preferred to have a room alone."

You and me both. Wait, why did I suddenly have a bad feeling about this?

"Sorry about this, I was taking a shower and… My name's-"

"Chi-Chifuyu-nee!"

And suddenly I was on my back.

Seriously I couldn't even see what happened. One second I saw what appeared to be my sister step out of the bathroom and next thing I know I was laid out two feet away from where I had stood. Oh and my roommate was growling fairly loudly. And on top of me. I didn't dare check if she were naked.

"Don't you dare call me by that name!" the girl whom was quite obviously not my sister snarled. I could feel her hands on my upper arms as she held me down. She was shaking intensely presumably from sheer rage. She hated my sister that much…? What reason could she have for that?

"Ah!"

She was off me after barely 30 awkward seconds. It was only after there was a shuffling sound that I dared open my eyes. She truly did look like Chifuyu-nee, that much was obvious despite the fact that she was now behind the divider. I really don't want to notice that that divider is the only thing hiding her body from me… There were some differences between she and Chifuyu-nee, as was obvious the moment started holding me down, however that face… If Chifuyu-nee were younger they'd be almost identical…

"Stop staring Pervert."

I look away immediately, going as far as turning completely around. Nothing was said for a full minute. It was so awkward… almost unbearably so… Even Direwolf didn't say a single thing… Eventually I heard her sigh heavily and say, "I'm dressed, you can look now." And so I did. She'd managed to get a large purple bathrobe on but still hid behind the Divider. Her face was still flushed, whether from embarrassment or anger I couldn't tell.

It was probably anger actually.

"So who the hell are you anyway?"

Oh that Chifuyu-like glare… Instinctively I snapped out my name, "Orimura Ichika!"

She looked at me surprised.

And stared.

And just kept staring.

This is… beyond awkward. It truly, undeniably is.

"I… see…" was apparently all she could say before she fell back onto the bed and out of my sight. I didn't dare try and reacquire sight on her; she had already manhandled me once tonight…

"Orimura… Ichika…" she repeated slowly as if trying to comprehend merely my name. Slowly she sat back up, palming her face as if she had a splitting headache. I could see the barest hint of a smile upon her face.

"…" I said nothing. What was there to say? Here's this girl, my roommate, who looks like my sister, quite clearly hates my sister, and seems to be struggling to comprehend my name. Are we perhaps cousins or something? Is she a distant cousin that disappeared with mother and father way back then? I don't even have her name yet… Perhaps I should ask… I barely realized that as I though this I began to do just that,

"Ano…" she removed her hand and looked at me clearly, "I didn't catch your name…" How generic.

Her eyes widen, although I can't fathom why, "I'm sorry, my name is Madoka," She paused for a second, quite clearly considering whether or not she should actually tell me her last name. Not that it mattered, I'm quite sure we're related at this point, "…Madoka Orimura."

"…" This is awkward. I knew we were related even before she said that but for her to actually confirm it… Of course the fact that I was having trouble keeping my gaze from her cleavage only made it more awkward for me. I hope she doesn't notice that…

"So…" she says slowly, unsurely, "you're a raven too?"

"Yeah…" I confirmed equally unsure. Madoka… that name sounds… familiar but for the life of me I cannot remember where I last heard it. I remember her name, but I do not remember who she is. That's… annoying to say the least.

"I see…" she murmured, "Did you know our mother runs one of the AC producers?"

I could feel my eyes widen, "What?"

For the first time since I walked into the room Direwolf chose to say something, 'Master, she's trying to change the subject.'

I thought about that for a second but found that I was honestly glad that she did so. That was getting far too awkward.

Madoka sighed deeply before continuing, "Yeah… The Ruined Country Weaving Corporation. They've been trying to create functioning Autonomous ACs since the autonomous IS incident…"

"Oh?" that would make sense, after all the ACs already have AIs embedded within their OS, "How has that been going for them?"

"Fine actually, several prototypes have already been built." She seemed to be having an easier time speaking compared to before. I guess we had both been feeling awkward then… I suppose that's good to know.

Hold on did she say _'our'_ mother? She's my sister too? But considering we're apparently in the same year wouldn't that mean that we're the same age? Then that would mean that she would have to be my… twin sister?

"…Say, Nii-san, you haven't been sponsored yet have you?" I'd been so caught up in my thoughts that I could only catch the end of what she had been saying.

"Uh…" I didn't know if I actually was or not, I didn't even know what she meant by-

'You are not sponsored Master.' Direwolf interjected, 'You may wish to get a feel for all the companies before you consider accepting a sponsorship.'

"No, I am not sponsored yet." Direwolf, what would I do without you?

"I thought as much." Madoka nods. A small blue holographic screen and keyboard appears before her. As she begins typing she calmly says, "Be sure to consider RCW Corporation in that case. Our parts can be a bit… gimmicky but I think you'll like them."

'Master, my core has been given authorization be use a few first generation parts manufactured by the Ruined Country Weaving Corporatio-' Direwolf abruptly pauses, 'Master, these parts are… unregistered. Several are experimental and in the testing phase and 1 in particular is intentionally unregistered for reasons relating to it's energy requirement... However… they're all extremely high quality parts. The Kojihira energy blade in particular stands out.'

'Is that a good thing or a bad thing?'

'Master, be careful with what you mount, almost all of them will change the way I can operate and thus the necessary combat style required to pilot me.'

"Onii-san" I blink as she speaks with such a quiet, almost tender, voice, "Even if you do not remember me… It's nice to finally get to see you again."

* * *

A/N: Yikes... That was a longer chapter than I actually intended to write... And such a sudden ending at that...

About the class change: Honestly I thought about it and a fight between Ichika and Cecilia would be hilariously curbstompish, as in 2 or 3 paragraph long fight curbstomp. After all it would be an airborne sniper versus a melee specialist who can't actually _fly_. That's the main reason why I switched Ichika to class 1-4. What am I doing to replace that fight? Oh just wait and see, wait and see.

Cecilia probably will be involved in Ichika's harem but not as soon as she was in canon. I'm debating whether or not to actually involve Madoka in Ichika's harem or not but I do know that I will be including one other character whom was not actually in his harem in canon, although she is a named character that appears semi-frequently.

Please critique me on my writing style, I really am not used to writing first person. Although I do admit that I find it much funner to write like this...

R&R and have a very nice day.


	4. How Not to Choose a Class Representative

Disclaimer: I do not own Infinite Stratos nor do I own the elements of Armored Core included within this story. In fact, I do not even own my name.

* * *

Chapter 4

How Not to Choose a Class Representative

* * *

I pop a piece of delicious salmon in my mouth. Mmmm… delicious salmon.

It's 8 am and I was currently in the first year's cafeteria for breakfast. I hadn't seen Madoka since last night as she'd left before I'd even woken up. She had left a note mentioning that she needed to do some maintenance on her AC and would see me in class. Direwolf seems to think she was merely using that as an excuse but why would she? Regardless I found myself alone in the first year cafeteria enjoying a delicious breakfast in a traditional Japanese style. Although I swear this tastes more like something you would get from a top-notch restaurant and not a school cafeteria…

On another note neither Shinji nor that Canadian were in the room so I was forced to withstand the force of the combined stares of an entire large room of fangirls. Shinji had actually popped in for a second. He'd simply taken a single glance around the room and stepped back out after flashing me a sympathetic look. While I appreciate the thought, that's not very helpful Shinji-san…

"…Excuse me,"

I blink as someone suddenly spoke to me. That voice… That voice certainly sounds familiar even if I can't quite place a name to it… No wait, it couldn't be…

I find myself slowly turning my head, half bitten piece of Salmon hanging out of my mouth almost comically. In front of my eyes stood a childhood friend I hadn't seen in six years, Shinonono Houki. She hadn't changed her hairstyle one bit; it was still that long split ponytail from all those years ago. I think she was even using that same ribbon she used to tie her hair from all those years ago. Even though she was only about average height for a girl of her age her demeanor made her seem… larger, more fearsome. That resentful look that she had once claimed she had been born with only helped her in that regard.

At my… less than dignified state she merely shook her head and took a seat on the opposite side of the table from me, not even bothering to ask if she could take a seat. How rude.

"…"

No. Not the awkward silence again. I've had enough of that to last a week! Subject… subject…

'Master, did she not participate in a championship last year?' Direwolf… truly you are a blessing disguised as an implement of war.

"By the way…" swallowing the rest of my Salmon I continue, "Last year, you won the World Kendo Championship right? Congratulations."

She frowns. What? Why is she frowning? I didn't break some unknown taboo or something did I? I mean I was just complimenting her on something as amazing as winning a world championship!

"Why do you know that?" Shouldn't that be 'How do you know that?'

I smile, hopefully no too weakly, "I saw it in the newspaper. I mean you won the World Kendo Championship, I'd have to live under a rock to not know that, especially since I practiced Kendo too."

She opened her mouth for a second but shut it without saying anything. I was totally bluffing. I wouldn't have even known had Dan Gotanda, another friend of mine, not showed me the article. I also hadn't picked up either a shinai or a bokken in a few years either so...

Thoroughly unwilling to let the dreaded hell of awkward silence she seemed intent on creating continue I kept talking, "It's been six years since we last saw each other right? I still recognized you instantly."

"Eh?"

I unconsciously scratch the back of my head, "Well to be honest it was the hair that did it… You have the same hairstyle as back then, y'know."

She started blushing, "At-at least you still remember."

"Of course, I can't forget something like that. We're childhood friends after all."

And silence returns. No perhaps it would be better to say that conversation merely died off. The void was filled with the chewing of food and sipping of soup.

And even then the silence was no longer awkward.

* * *

"Sensei~"

Huh? That girl was putting a tad bit too much enthusiasm into something as simple as getting your teacher's attention. Then again, girls in this school are almost universally overenthusiastic. As was proven when Shinji mentioned that he'd seen Orleans, the Canadian boy, hiding in a tree earlier in the morning to avoid his fanclub. Judging from how… disheveled he looked as he was dragged through the door by the other Canadian I'd say that it didn't end well for him. Come to think of it, Shinji doesn't appear to be having fangirl problems like Orleans and I. I have really got to remember to find out why.

'Master I think it's because…' Direwolf trails off, 'Actually it's for Shinji-sama to tell, not me.' I blink. Wow, first time Direwolf said something like that. Got to be something exciting in that case.

"I recommend Orimura-kun!"

"No! It should be Orleans-sama!"

"Are you guys daft? Shinji-nii-sama is the best for this role!"

…I have got to stop spacing out like that.

"Yeah!" I do believe this overly loud voice belongs to Amaya Hikaru, "Shinji-kun is the best for the job!"

"Of course not! Clearly Orleans-sama is the best for the job!" the speaker made a sound I'd rather not describe, "I mean listen to that accent, there's no way someone who speaks like that can't be the best for this job!"

Really? His accent? I sneak a glance at the other two guys in the room to see how they were reacting to all this. Orleans amusingly had buried his head in his arms and refused to look up for anything, meanwhile the white haired, red eyed, girl next to him merely sat there shaking her head. Shinji however just sat there with an amused smirk plastered upon his face, evidently enjoying having the entire room argue over which of us was better suited for… something. At this point I really don't want to know what.

"Nuh-uh! Orimura-kun is Chifuyu-sama's sibling! Shouldn't that make him the best suited to be class representative?"

"Shouldn't that logic also qualify me?"

Blink. How did I never notice that Madoka was sitting all the way in the rear window seat of my row? Her statement predictably caused nearly everyone in the room to turn and stare at her in surprise. At least I think that those expressions are surprise, I can never tell anymore.

Suddenly, killing intent. Immense quantities of it. So much, so intensely that I could literally see my life flashing before my eyes. I recognized this intent as I've felt it many times before, Chifuyu-nee stood at the teacher' podium giving her fiercest glare at my recently confirmed twin sister. After a few milliseconds the intensity nearly doubled to the point that everyone sitting between the two apparent siblings began sweating bullets. Clearly Madoka had begun glaring back.

And then as suddenly as it had occurred it all ended as both Chifuyu-nee and Madoka-nee chose to end their undeclared staring contest without a word. I knew Madoka hated Chifuyu-nee but I had no idea that the feeling was mutual, and for that matter so intense… I wonder what had happened to cause all that?

"Yeah!" The girl farthest away from the glaring line of horror shouted as if nothing was wrong, "I recommend…"

"Madoka Orimura."

"I recommend Madoka-sama!"

Shinji coughed, "Excuse me, but why are you only recommending the AC users for class representative of a class on IS? In fact why are _we_ even taking a class based solely upon the theory behind and practical operation of IS in the first place? May I recommend the Representative Cadet, Sarashiki Kanzashi, instead?" Sure enough the girl next to me looked up at the name.

Unsurprisingly his fangirls immediately switched sides, instead voting for the Representative Cadet as opposed to their crush. Interesting situation. If I was paying correct attention than a third of the class was voting for Orleans, another third was voting for Kanzashi at Shinji's request, and the last third is split between voting for Madoka or I.

"This is silly." A crisp, no-nonsense voice cut through the air. It reminded me of Chifuyu-nee is many ways but it was clearly not she who spoke. Glancing behind me I found that it was the other Canadian, a girl who Direwolf immediately mentioned was Maria Berlioz, a class B Raven from Rayleonard, "If this class representative is going to participate in an Inter-class tournament than should he or she not be the best fighter of the class?"

"I agree." Amaya said with all the excitement of a 5 year old in a candy shop, "Shinji-kun couldn't lose in a fight anyway so naturally it should be him!"

Just as the fangirls were about to start shouting to, quote unquote, defend my honor as well as that Orleans kid, Chifuyu-nee intervened… By slamming her hands onto the podium hard enough to crack it. Oh dear. She must really be angry at Madoka-nee or something… When did I start thinking of her as Madoka-_nee_ anyway?

"Enough!" Nee-sama barked out in a way that would make Drill Sergeants weep in pride and joy, "Since it is clear that you cannot come to a peaceful solution via vote than I propose this, a Battle Royale!"

That… actually that doesn't sound too bad. Evidently I was not the only one who thought this as I noticed that most of the room seemed to be nodding in agreement.

"Yes, that is a great idea." Shinji calmly stated with a smile upon his face, "A seven person Battle Royale, one IS and 6 AC. What a fine way to start a year."

"Hmph," Orleans began with a… French accent I believe, "I suppose such an arrangement was inevitable. Even without your insistence, Berlioz."

The other Canadian rolled her crimson eyes, "Whatever. I couldn't just let it come down to something as petty as a vote. We're Ravens not Politicians."

Cutting off the chatter was Onee-sama's voice once again. Loud and as authoritive as the greatest of leaders she proclaimed, "The battle will be in three days in arena 5. Participants will be Orleans de Anjou," the black haired Canadian with a French accent nodded, "Maria Berlioz," the presumably albino Canadian folded her arms, "Amaya Hikaru," the blonde Raven nodded vigorously, "Shinji Hikaru," the creator of the ACs merely smiled, "Ichika Orimura," I open my mouth to say that I really didn't want the position but she cut me off, "that is nonnegotiable," as I sigh in silent acceptance she scowls, no doubt at the next name, "Madoka Orimura," I didn't need to look to know that Madoka-nee was probably taunting Onee-sama with gesture alone, after all the slight narrowing of Chifuyu-nee's eyes said enough, "And lastly Kanzashi Sarashiki," the representative cadet didn't even bother putting a halt to her typing to acknowledge her name being called, "Is that everyone?"

No one said anything. Chifuyu-nee nodded once before scratching something in her notes and before she had even finished the bell signaling the end of fourth period sounded. Suddenly the room was a cacophony of noise as at least one girl started a betting pool and everything spiraled out of control from there.

As I was about to get up to get a few seconds of relative quiet outside of class Direwolf interrupted me,

'Master… I implore you to head over to a workshop soon… We will be engaging several high profile ravens, an unknown quantity, and an IS at once. This is not the kind of mission we can go into without sufficient preparation.'

I find myself nodding unconsciously, once again forgetting that no one else could hear Direwolf besides me. And for that matter that Direwolf couldn't even see the gesture.

* * *

With a yawn I tiredly take a step out of the classroom long after I truly should have. Apparently Chifuyu-nee had been so distracted by Madoka she hadn't even noticed me as I drifted off to sleep during the last period of the day. Thus here I am, tired and yawning, leaving class three hours later than normal. I think I have even missed the allotted time for dinner as well. This sucks. I wish Direwolf could actually function as an Alarm clock…

'Well I could master but your alarm would have to be a klaxon.' I blink, like a klaxon that blares as a nuclear launch has been detected? Right that's probably a bad idea.

Someone nearby drops something and I immediately look for who it was immediately. Turning I come face to face with the black haired male Raven from Canada, Orleans de Anjou. I stare at him awkwardly; his appearance had really caught me off guard. I mean it was hours after school so why would he still be here?

He sighed, leaning back against the wall as if relieved, "Erm… I apologize about that, rookie. They're gone right?"

Rookie? I suppose that should offend me but I suppose I am actually the rookie. Why does he seem so… scared, like a fugitive on run from the law, "They? Who are they?"

"So we're alone? There are none of 'them' prowling about just waiting for their chance to do… things to me I'd rather not think about." He sighs in relief, "Oh thank god, they finally all left."

I blink as I realize whom he was talking about. Had Shinji actually been serious about Orleans hiding in a tree?

"The tree… They even took down that poor tree! There is nothing they wouldn't do to get to me… NOTHING!"

I… sincerely hope he's joking... If they seriously took down a tree to get to him then I can only imagine what would happen is one of them caught me asleep after class! As I shudder at all the possibilities I end up saying, "Hey… uh… you wouldn't happen to know where the workshops are would you?"

"Know where they are? I have to sleep in mine! My roommate is one of my fangirls man!"

My eyes widen. Suddenly I could feel nothing more than pity for this man. Hunted by fangirls so much he's forced to abandon even his room! He grabbed my hand and began leading me down the hall, a little bit roughly at that. And before I knew it he had dragged me out a back door.

* * *

Turns out the hanger I was looking for was right next to the dorms. You'd figure I'd notice that since the map actually had both the dorms and the hanger labeled, but no. Apparently I'm just that bad with maps…Orleans snuck away when I wasn't looking, evidently thinking that being so close to the dorms would attract attention he did not ever wish to attract. I still can't blame him.

The Hanger had been divided into 4 workspaces and had what appeared to be an observation room elevated near the back of the room. Wonder what that could've been used for back when this was still just an IS academy? As I tried to find my workspace in specific I realized that only two of the workspaces actually had names on them, one for me and AC Direwolf and one for someone named… Cardona, the first name was smudged out, and his or her AC Ferdinand. The other appeared to be occupied so I popped in to say hi. It totally wasn't to ask for help as I have no idea how this works and Direwolf refused to tell me in favor of just calling me an idiot, no certainly not.

The brunette inside was for some reason in a maid outfit. At first I had thought that perhaps it was a girl but then I noticed that 'her' chest was a tad too flat. He'd been sitting in front of a computer and leaning back as his AC was having a three barreled gatling gun mechanically attached to one of it's arms, a decent sized physical shield was lying nearby, no doubt intended for the other arm.

"Umm… hey?" He jumped in fright. You mean he hadn't noticed me slide open the door and walk in directly in front of him? Must've been nodding off or something, I mean it is rather late.

"A-ah…" he started shakily, "D-did you need something?"

"Yeah." I nod slowly, "This is the first time I'm doing this and Direwolf isn't telling me anything…"

Bringing a single hand to his chest he sighed deeply, "I see… Do you still have your manual?"

I wince. I never actually did, the audio copy Direwolf had was the only one I've even heard of. And since Direwolf was being stubborn, "No…"

The boy opened his mouth for a second to say something then shut it without saying anything. This process repeated itself twice until he finally sighed and said, "Fine. Do you remember how to remote deploy your AC?" At my nod he continues, "Go over to your workspace and do that. Then connect the terminal to your AC's wireless network and the rest should be self explanatory."

"Right got it." I was about to leave when I realized I should really personally introduce myself, "By the way, my name is Ichika Orimura."

He looks back up from the computer he'd temporary gone back to looking at, "Ichika? Right. Just call me…" he winces, "...Isabeau Cardona."

Isn't Isabeau a girl's name…?

'Yes. Yes it is master.' There was a pause as I left 'her' workspace, closing the door behind me, 'Isabeau Cardona, a class E Raven from Spain's Cardona Industries. She is in the number tier directly above you in the rankings therefore you may wish to challenge her to an order match to advance.'

'I'll keep that in mind…'

I enter my own workspace. Unsurprisingly, with the exception of the rather large computer terminal Isabeau had mentioned my workspace was completely empty.

'Master, Deploy me so we can get started.'

With a short mental command I did just that, the crimson form of Direwolf materializing in the center of the room just as he had appeared that day months ago. I haven't materialized him since then actually. His armor had apparently regenerated, as what had previously been melted was now whole again, covered in a flawless layer of crimson paint. Its head was angular, almost wedge shaped, and home to a single monoeye, which flashed red for a second as I connected the terminal to Direwolf's wireless network. It's two blocky rifles still resided upon their shoulder storage racks.

"Master," it has been so long since I've actually heard Direwolf 'speak' so his voice caught me off guard. The letters A.C.S.I.S. appeared on screen before the screen transitioned into a impressively detailed model of Direwolf with a list of equipped weapons and modules lining the left side of the screen, "Master, may I recommend that you switch my Murakumo physical blades out with a pair of Dragonslayer laser blades?"

Laser blades…? You mean like Chifuyu-nee's Yukihira? He didn't need to tell me twice as I mindlessly tapped the screen and made the change, as roughly detailed within the operation's manual.

"Thank you master." Direwolf said. There was a hint of some sort of emotion within its otherwise mechanical voice but it was very hard to notice, "Laser blades are melee weapons that deal a massive amount of damage via Thermal Energy. They have no limit to their use however bear in mind that when activated the Laser Blade will rapidly drain energy from my generator. As such, it is necessary to only ignite your Laser Blades for a mere second or two."

"I see… Any other recommendations?"

"… May I recommend that you equip a pair of Flash Rockets in my shoulder slots?" I tap the shoulder button on the screen and find a Rayleonard manufactured pair near the bottom of the list, "Flash Rockets are dumb-fire weapons that do no damage. They do however function as flashbangs and are particularly effective at stunning an opponent while you charge in to land a blow with Laser Blades." With a shrug I equip them, displacing a HEAT rocket.

"Additionally, if I have profiled you correctly than you are not particularly keen on using ranged weapons." I find myself nodding. Admittedly I'm a swordsman at heart, "Therefore I must recommend equipping a pair of Exceed Orbits instead of the more standard Recon Units. Exceed Orbits once deployed float behind the user and act as floating turrets. As they operate autonomously they require little assistance from the raven utilizing them. They come in several sizes and varieties but you only have access to a single model, the EN-009 Vanquisher Exceed Orbits produced by RCW Corporation." With a shrug I equip those as well. I've never actually so much as held a gun before, for a few years there I actually had a phobia of them. At least until Chifuyu-nee beat it out of me in traditional Chifuyu fashion… with a shinai.

Taking a look at Direwolf's remaining weapon loadout I decided to replace the rifle with a Shotgun from Arisawa Heavy Industries. Looking at the remaining rifle, battle rifle I corrected myself, I realized that I had no idea what to replace it with. Thus I decided to ask Direwolf, "Hey, Direwolf, what would you recommend to replace the other rifle?"

"The Lotus battle Rifle?" I nod, not really knowing whether he could see it or not, "Just get rid of it." I blink and open my mouth to say something but Direwolf continues, "I do not need to be fully equipped, especially if you wish that I continue to have the most mobility I could have. This also allows you to always have a sword in hand, if you equipped another shotgun or something then you would have to place one of your shotguns onto the storage racks to use your Laser Blades."

That makes sense I suppose, "Is there any other changes you wish for me to make?"

"Yes, there are several, but my generator would be unable to withstand the stress. Therefore I must wait until a more powerful generator becomes available to even consider recommending you equip me with them."

I press finalize without any further conversation.

"Master, may I recommend that you get some sleep? These changes will take a while to finish and from here on it is all automated."

"Very well…" So I'm leaving him here for the night? I was halfway out the door when I heard Direwolf speak up again,

"Good night Master."

"Good night Direwolf."

* * *

A/N: An early release? Why yes, yes this is. If you haven't noticed yet I try to release a new chapter every 3 days however I had finished this chapter early so I figured why not release it a 'day' early? You're welcome~


	5. The Funlover and The Joykiller

A/N: First off I apologize for only releasing half of the Battle Royale instead of the entire fight. The second half is not quite ready yet and will be released on... the 18th?

Disclaimer: I don't own Infinite Stratos or Armored Core. In fact I don't even own a lame joke to put here.

* * *

Chapter 5

The Fun-lover and The Joy-killer

* * *

"Hey…"

"…"

"Hey, isn't it too early to be so annoyed?"

"…I'm not angr-" Houki caught her her slip before she finished but instead decided to glare at me. Ouch, that really hurts Houki…

It's 8 am of the third day of school, 2 days before the Battle Royale for the position of class representative that I had no intention of even joining. The salmon is still heavenly. The rice is good too but nothing could compare to this salmon! Regardless Houki is still angry and I swear that that's making me unable to truly savor my delicious salmon. Unforgivable! I must put an end to this.

'Master, you should really calm.' Oh right. Direwolf had finished his rearming just in time for me to pick him up before breakfast.

"…So, what's got you so annoyed?"

Houki just continued glaring at me so I continued just staring right back. Eventually she relented and with a sigh said, "It's my class."

I raise an eyebrow, what could her class possibly do that would get her so annoyed presumably a day later?

"There was a vote to decide the class representative yesterday and it didn't go so well…" Houki shook her head, "Everyone voted for me, solely because of my relation to… _her_… and the class representative cadet started throwing a fit because no one was listening to her…" I don't like where this is going, "So then she, Cecilia Alcott I think her name was, started talking down on Japan and just generally being an ignorant uncultured foreigner…" was that insult necessary? Truly this Cecilia really must've left an impression, "The other foreigner, the raven I believe, called her out when she started insulting our food…" What? She had better not have talked down upon the almighty salmon, "And then the two of them started slinging insults at each other until finally one of them declared a duel. Now my class representative is either going to be an ignorant blonde bimbo or a mudslinging moron who doesn't even use IS in the first place!"

…Wow. Those two must've _really _made an impression on her… I think that's the most I've ever heard her say. And I thought my class handled that vote badly…

Houki takes a deep breath to regain her composure, "Geez, I think those idiots infected me. Sorry I had to vent like that."

"Oh no problem, I asked for it after all." I suppose I probably should tell her about my class, "My class had to decide on the class representative yester day too. The class was immediately split in thirds between me, Orleans, the guy from Canada, and Shinji Hikaru. Shinji deflected his votes over to the actual IS pilot and Madoka-nee stole half of my votes and it all was going great until Chifuyu-nee decided to settle everything in a battle royale…" I sigh, "I can't even get out of it either… I mean it's not like I even want to be the class rep in the first place…"

"…Madoka-nee?" What's that look for Houki? And that slow way of speaking… I didn't break some unknown taboo again did I?

I was interrupted before I could even explain by someone speaking up from almost directly behind me, "Onii-chan!"

I turn around in my seat, "Madoka-nee?"

"Ichika… who is this?" This glare upon the back of my head… Why is Houki so angry again?

As Madoka casually took a seat to my left I couldn't help but to notice that she had begun meeting Houki's glare head on not intimidated in even the slightest bit. Then again she did have a glaring contest with Chifuyu-nee which neither won so…

"I'm his little sister of course. Why else would I be calling him Onii-chan?" That tone… Is she trying to mock Houki? I really can't tell. Evidently I wasn't the only one thinking that as Houki herself transitioned from looking vaguely surprised to beginning to narrow her eyes dangerously. As Houki wasn't saying anything Madoka decided to continue before starting in on her rice, "I'm also his roommate. Onii-chan is a pervert, he couldn't stop himself from staring at my cleavage on the first night."

…You mean she actually noticed that? And she thinks I'm a pervert for it? Oh this it is going to be a very awkward night, I just know it…

"Onii-chan…" Houki averts her already narrowed eyes to me, "Pervert…" Not you too! I know she's my sister but… Actually I'm just going to try forgetting about it.

The silence returned. Only this time it was not so much awkward as it was hostile…

The entire time I couldn't shake the feeling that I was perhaps missing something. Although the small smile I kept noticing Madoka had upon her face was quite telling. After all, she had got the Salmon special! You can't just get something like that and _not_ smile right?

* * *

Friday of the first week. Exactly three days after the battle royale was declared. Time had flown by fast. The battle was scheduled for 5:00, two hours after school ended, but I arrived around four after Madoka-nee had mentioned that there was another battle going on, the very duel Houki had mentioned two days previous.

We arrived just in time to catch the end of the battle. The blonde haired representative cadet from England was floating at least 2-dozen meters above the faux ruined city below. Apparently Arena 3 was the Urban Warfare stadium; the entire ground of the arena was covered with a city that showed signs of previous intense fighting. The IS user would have none of that. Cecilia was a sniper by nature as evidenced by the long rifle in her IS's hands. She kept rapidly scanning the arena floor looking for signs of her opponent in the battle-scarred city. Every once in a while missles or laser rounds or something would fly up from the ruins of the city and hit her shields only for Cecilia to return fire almost immediately and destroy the turret that had fired upon her. Even rarer a series of orbs would occasionally rush towards her and sometimes score a few hits with their built in pulse guns before being taken out by the IS users equivalent weapons. They reminded me of BITs and Fin Funnels from the gundam verse honestly.

And then it ended.

It was extremely sudden. Just as Cecilia started shouting for her opponent to come out and fight her a single shot was fired from some sort of high caliber cannon and instantly forced the blonde's IS to activate its Absolute Barrier, the enormous bullet flattening against the ultimate defensive barrier as if lost it's momentum so suddenly. From my position I saw a light blue quadruped AC shimmer into existence for a split second before it disappeared again. Cloaking? There was seriously someone genius enough to create an AC sized cloaking device?

"Arrogant Alcott," a girl's voice cut through the silence, "So concerned with your Image you refused to lower yourself to the ground to escape my firing arc. Staying still long enough to show that you were completely unafraid even as my Orbit Cannons and Turrets drained your Shields of their precious energy. You didn't even spot me once, let alone damage me." The voice scoffs, "Are you an sniper or are you a clown, Cecilia Alcott?"

"Of course," beside me Madoka snapped her fingers, "Now I recognize that voice." Taking my look of curiosity in stride she continues, "That's Naname Bernard. Her AC, the Saint Benedict, is the flagship model for her adopted father's Bernard War Industries."

"I take it that means she's dangerous?" Madoka looks at me with a raised eyebrow, "That win means she's the class representative of Houki's class."

Madoka's eyes widened by a barely noticeable fraction, "Really?" a smirk crept upon her face, her eyes glittering with a suddenly dangerous light… This presence… It made me worried in a way I couldn't quite describe, "You know I had actually been planning on helping you win, Onii-chan, but now that I actually have a reason to win…"

'Master… You're an idiot.' Oh not this again…

"Ichika-nii," I blink. The sudden 180 in personality, from a cruel and evil formless terror to a personable and tender children's hero… It caught me completely by surprise, so totally sudden I could hardly react as she continued on confident that she had gotten my attention, "I may not explicitly help you, but for what it's worth I wish you good luck."

I didn't even bother trying to respond as she quickly walked off leaving me alone…

"Ichika." I nearly jump as Chifuyu-nee appears from a side door. Given this suddenly unexplained pressure, I'm almost scared to look. I just know that if I saw the expression upon her face at the moment I would probably be scared out of my mind. She's undoubtedly giving one of those infamously terrorizing glares of hers in the general direction Madoka walked off in… Evidently she wasn't particularly interested in hearing me say anything as she went right along and just told me what she had come over to tell me, "Your match begins in 5 minutes. Make any preparations you still have to and get to one of the gates."

I just nod. There was little else to do. You do not just talk to Chifuyu-nee when she is like this. The last time I saw that happen, the guy who had done it ended up being hospitalized for… the list was too long to recall.

I walk off in the same direction Madoka had knowing it to be the fastest way to get to the staging area, or the pits as she preferred they be called. Why was she glaring at me now? I could literally feel her eyes boring through the back of my skull!

'…Master… Just… Just get to a gate already.'

Not you too!

* * *

It feels weird being within Direwolf after so long. As he rattled off his system checks I couldn't shake the feeling of excitement that was steadily building up within my gut. Discounting those… golems I suppose I'll call them this would be my first battle. 1 of 6 ravens in a 7 man free for all…

"All system check's green. Normal mode activated." Direwolf's mechanically drawled.

Several seconds passed before I heard Chifuyu-nee over the intercom, "All pilots ready?" she didn't wait for a response, "1-4 Class Representative Free for All match. Ready?" a pause, "GO!"

And with Chifuyu-nee's roar of a bark I was off and through the gate numbered 9. I barely heard Direwolf's statement that he was entering Combat mode as I leapt atop a low nearby building, leaping again to jump off the higher building next to it and towards where I assumed was another gate. Been awhile since I had Adrenalin pumping.

After a few seconds I touched down in the middle of a wide street, danger sense whining. I just stood still, sweeping 'my' sensors over the surrounding buildings and side streets until…

"Hostile AC detected."

I instinctively dodge to the right letting my attacker rush straight past me in his or her reckless charge. What could that have accomplished? ACs have more than enough AP to shake off several of those this early on.

"Hoh… I missed?" why did she sound so surprised? Compared to Chifuyu-nee that lunge was nothing I couldn't dodge. The voice was that of a girl, and judging by how playful it was compared to both Berlioz and Madoka I could only assume that it was Amaya Hikaru, "You're fairly skilled after all. For a rookie."

As I wordlessly activate my boosters I can't help but to wonder if that was supposed to be a taunt. That's how Chifuyu-nee compliments me after all. Slowly strafing to the right, shotgun trained on her, Direwolf spoke up, "AC Kintaku identified. Registered under the class S raven Amaya Hikaru, Kintaku is a lightweight AC using only a Shotgun and a HEAT pile driver with extremely high damage output. Melee combat requires extra care to be effective. However, Kintaku has little to no defenses to Kinetic Energy, Chemical Energy, or especially Thermal Energy attacks. A single good hit with a dragonslayer should knock her out of the game."

'Thanks Direwolf.'

…Was attempting melee combat worth it? A simple glance at the Operation Manual's weapon guide was enough to tell me that HEAT pile drivers were both the most dangerous weapons an AC could have and one of the hardest to use…

"Done now rookie?" I blink and focus on the small gold pained AC, had she heard all that? I notice her boosters ignite, her shotgun, an odd seemingly 4 barreled design, shot up to get a bead upon me and she fired once, several pellets scoring hits and chipping some paint off, "Here I come, rookie!" And she charged.

Fast! I barely dodge out of the way of her charge with by performing a quick boost causing my AC to almost triple my normal boost speed. Her Pile driver found purchase in the building I had been in front of and after scant second the entire building was leveled as the HEAT warhead detonated. Yeah… I do not want to get hit by that. Obscured in dust as she was I could barely make out her AC's body, only the twin red glows of its eyes and the duller glow of her pile driver's… cycle timer? That's it! Her pile driver trades reload speed for raw explosive damage; as long as that light was red she could only use her shotgun.

I grip my off-hand, the white hot blade of Rayleonard's Dragonslayer laser blade coming into existence as I lunged forward… and missed as the Kintaku jumped causing my blade to soar through the dust that occupied where she had once been. I unclench my hand immediately shutting off the flow of power before my generator took too much of a hit. Expecting her to counter attack immediately I activated my quick boost again, this time traveling forward to get behind her airborne form. Her shotgun fell to the street, discarded. Why would she…?

"Got you, rookie!"

My eyes widen as I look up and find her AC coming down on me like an hawk, what was previously her shotgun arm having a second pile driver emerge from her forearm armor. This is bad; I don't think my generator can handle another quick boost… What would Chifuyu-nee do?

Of course!

At the last second I sidestep ever so slightly, her second pile driver going into the gap between my left shotgun arm, and my core, or torso. Before she could react I clasped my heavier arm down upon her own, locking it in place. My chance! Clenching my right hand again I ignite my laser blade and go in for the kill-

[DANGER]

Only to quick boost backwards as her first pile driver rearmed and almost speared my core dead on. My actual chest was in that space… My dodge gave her just enough leeway to wrench her second pile driver free with a backwards quick boost of her own. Didn't save her from my near point blank shotgun blast that severely dented the armor on her left leg, although not debilitatingly so. We both kept moving backwards until we were about 20 meters apart.

"Heh… perhaps I underestimated you." She calmly stated, "This has been a fun dance but I suppose we both have more important things to do than share a waltz." Slowly she took a stance, her pile driver held ready to strike as if a scorpion's tail. It was obvious what she wanted.

"One strike? Like the samurai of old?" vaguely I could see that her AC had nodded its head, as little as it could do so, "I accept. We're both melee combatants and a single strike would ruin both of us."

"Glad you see it my way, Raven," Huh? That's the first time she's called me Raven and not just Rookie, "Let's do this!"

She charged. For a split second I hesitated, not quite having gotten the memo until I kicked my boosters into overdrive and charged, a thruster maneuver known as the Overboost. We didn't meet.

"Hostile AC detected."

We were about 2 meters apart before at least 20 rockets came out of nowhere and slammed into Kintaku sending the lightweight AC into the ruins of the building she'd all but leveled earlier. Kintaku barely managed to stand up, "To interrupt a declared duel-!"

"Hate me all you like Amaya Hikaru." the pilot of the AC that ambushed us began. Crisp and business-like with only the barest hint of a French accent it was clear that the speaker was Maria Berlioz, "Perhaps I should've waited until you hit each other, you might've even taken each other out for me. Regardless, I'm in this to win, not to play around."

"Onore… Ichika, take this one down for me would ya?" Amaya's voice faded as Kinkaku's eye-lights did. All of Kintaku's non-essential systems had begun shutting down so that it's generator could focus on powering a lightly shinning force field, the AC's equivalent to the IS's Absolute Barrier. In essence, this meant that Kintaku's AP had been reduced to zero.

"Hostile AC, Kintaku, neutralized." After a second's pause Direwolf began again, "AC Massicot identified. Registered under the class B raven Maria Berlioz the Massicot is a balanced and well-rounded combatant capable of fighting at all ranges. However it requires a raven skilled in battlefield tactics to be put to proper use. Designed after the AC of the top S ranking Rayleonard Raven, Hector Berlioz. Master, if you can shoot those rockets before they get to far they'll begin a chain reaction and shred her armor."

"Hmph," the Massicot dropped into the street, guns not actually being pointed at me yet. Arrogant, "Getting battle advice from your AC? Cute, rookie."

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. If I'm interpreting Direwolf correctly then I should be able to win easily if I close to melee range, 'Direwolf, active my Exceed Orbits.' I feel the weight leaving my back. We both snap our guns up at once, my shotgun roaring as her dual rifles begin spitting their bullet. My shotgun shell being accompanies by pulse fire from my EOs and her rifles being accompanies by a swarm of rockets… Or at least they would've been accompanied by a swarm of rockets had I not taken Direwolf's advice and shot them.

I let a small smile grace my face as I ignite my off hand Dragonslayer and move into the smoke… only to get smacked in the core with her AC's knee shield. The hit actually made me smack my head against the small screen Direwolf transmitted it's ocular feed to. That hurt.

"AP down 30 percent."

What? With that one hit? Feeling a round ping off my left arm I quick boost to the right and out of the smoke, my EOs apparently firing as I went. She came after me, her black armor charred and her rifles blazing all the way. I manage to snap off a shot from my shotgun and happily note that most of the pellets scored hits on their mark and damaging her armor even more. She however ignored it all and quick boosted straight forward, her shoulder armor opening up as it had before she fired her rockets… I don't trust my EOs to detonate those safely. I fire a rocket of my own and sure enough our rockets intercepted each other far enough between us that neither of us took damage.

A cry of surprise was emitted from my opponent. Perfect. Obscured by both my own flash rocket's flash and the smoke from her own rockets chain detonation I charge through the smoke and jump allowing her predictable knee rush to fly right under me. I dive down as Amaya had before, bringing my own knee shield down upon her back and flattening the Massicot against the mock street. Then I clench my sword hand. She struggled but it was in vain as I took off her headpiece with a single quick movement. Without that she couldn't do much of anything.

"What?!" I heard her shout as she realized what had happened, "How could I be beaten by… by the rookie of all people?!" she growled, "Damn it! I really should have let you two take each other out..." I jump away as her AC activated its barrier signaling its defeat.

"Hostile AC, Massicot, neutralized."

* * *

A/N: Again I apologize for only releasing half of the Battle Royale but there are still several things I believe need tweaking in it. Also I've been rather sick for the past few days so if you notice a slight quality drop near the end of this chapter and the beginning of the next you know why.

About Amaya and Maria's combat styles: Amaya is basically that decent player deciding to use a hilariously hard to use weapon set up for amusement one day, hence the fun lover, and Maria is basically the noob (or heavyweight AI) who thinks everything can be done by just charging straight in. Maria didn't put up much of a fight because her AC simply wasn't made for that combat style.

Also I would like to thank Enlightened End for my first negative review. Remember that I would love more reviews telling me what you really like with my story and would especially love receiving reviews on what you don't particularly like about my story. I want all my readers to be happy too y'know.

I will continue (roughly) following IS canon until the alternate Silverio Gospel arc when a major deviation occurs.

R&R and have a very nice day.

T/N: Onore = An extremely offensive way to say 'you' in japanese. Commonly translated as 'why you-!' or 'you bastard-!'


	6. Morning Star and Genesis

Disclaimer: I do not own Infinite Stratos or Armored Core.

* * *

Chapter 6

Morning Star and Genesis

* * *

"Hostile AC Detected." Direwolf reported over the dull roar of his own boosters, "Hostile AC Detected."

I settled down upon a nearby rooftop at the sound of Direwolf's voice. He said that twice and therefore has detected two AC. I stand still waiting for him to finish his analysis.

"AC Morning Star identified. Registered under the class A raven Orleans de Anjou. The Morning Star is a pure melee type AC known for heavily relying upon a single laser blade and occasionally using a unique physical blade. Master, the Morning Star seems to be able to move far quicker and even more agile than it really should be able to. Be careful."

Well that's _great_ news.

"Note: Orleans has a record of toying with seemingly weaker opponents. Master you may be able to exploit this."

"AC Zephyr identified. Registered under the class D raven Madoka 'M' Orimura the Zephyr is a mid to long range lightweight AC that acts as a test bed for parts developed by Ruined Country Weaving Corporation. Much is classified about this AC however it is known that in melee it has some sort of prototypical blade mounted on its left arm. Additionally the Zephyr appears to be particularly effective for guerilla warfare or support tactics."

Madoka-nee's a mid to long range combatant? That's surprising compared to Chifuyu-nee or even myself. Should I help…? I mean Madoka did say she wasn't going to help me…

I could barely see the details of the fight even at max zoom, mainly due to both ACs being painted the same colors and the fight occurring so far down the faux river of the arena. Every once in a while one of the ACs would spit out something like a bright green fire at the other whom dodged almost every single one of them. Occasionally there was either a great colorless flash or a equally brilliant purple flash from the other AC but neither of those ever fully connected either.

However the fight had to come to an end eventually. Finally there was one last flash of green and purple as the two AC met in midair and one fell to the ground defeated at last.

"Hostile AC, Zephyr, neutralized." Madoka-nee lost?

'Direwolf by any chance can you determine how damaged AC Morning Star is?'

"Scanning…" I'll take that as a yes. I waited a few moments, "…Scan complete. AC Morning Star is heavily damaged, a single good hit with either your shotgun or your laser blades will knock him out. Your EOs wil be useless however as his AC seems to be designed around TE defense."

'Then why would my laser blade work?'

"…Master, Rayleonard model laser blades are known to practically ignore TE defenses. For that reason, the Dragonslayer and the 07-Moonlight has been likened to the energy blade wielded by-"

'Chifuyu-nee…'

"Affirmative master."

Slowly watching the Morning Star stand up on the opposite side of the faux river from my position I made up my mind, with three leaps I was halfway down river. The Morning Star looked up at me as I approached and just paused, gauging my actions. I was almost to the river when he made up his mind and activated his boosters. Before I could stop him the black and blue painted AC had sped around a corner and disappeared into the city.

I know better than to fall for that. I take to the rooftops, hopping from roof to roof in the general direction he would be going. This way he couldn't ambush me like he so obviously had been intending to do. A glint of black or a flash of purple here and there were the only things the told me that I was going in the right direction. Was he toying with me? With a sigh I admit that this is probably a fairly bad idea, I mean I'm playing a cat and mouse game with a 'mouse' that I can only assume could take me out with a single hit. Of course, the inverse was also true...

I barely manage to avoid a slash from that purple energy blade as Morning star jumps out from the alley in front of the building I was on. Before I could counterattack a single rocket was launched from it's left shoulder which went on to hit me dead on the headpiece.

Suddenly blind, a flash rocket I rationalize, I quickly launch one of my own and jump away before he could follow up with a second slash. The mere flash from that rocket, even second hand, still made me almost cry. I feel the roof fall out from behind me as I can only assume I fall into a street.

My vision only just began to return when Orleans returned, zooming into the alley I had found myself in with that purple laser blade of his carving a line in the building lining the right side of the alley. Did he not think I could see yet? I snap my shotgun up and-

My eyes widen as a long blade of steel swung upwards from the hand I hardly even noticed. My shotgun was sent flying, landing somewhere behind me useless. This isn't good! Orleans manually jumped, only getting the barest of air, as he brought both his sword together and down upon me.

A dreadful sound was emitted as I managed, barely, to interspace my sword between his own and my head, that was closer than I could ever want. We clash, my swords holding back his for several seconds before his purple blade goes out and only his physical sword was left. That slot on his shoulder armor opened up again and a flash rocket emerged to cover his escape. This time I activate my special flash rocket countermeasures, the magical ability that makes all flash rocks useless in every way shape and form; I close my eyes as it hits.

Perhaps foolishly I continue my pursuit. I'm hoping he won't realize that I can still see just fine and consider me less of a threat than a really am but…

I emerge from the alley just after him, he abruptly quick boosts right and I keep going straight. Wonder if he'll fall for it? Sure enough with a flash of purple he does, approaching from behind he moves in for the kill only for me to perform a quickboost to turn a full 180 degrees and block his slash with my dragonslayer.

"Energy down to 10%"

10%? I don't have the energy to ignite my second dragonslayer… What would Chifuyu-nee do…?

Oh right.

I punch him in the face with my swordless hand.

CRACK!

Morning Star's entire head shattered into a thousand different and tiny pieces. His sword shut itself down as he jumped backwards totally blinded. I deactivate my sword and stand perfectly still, his Fire Control System may have been completely destroyed along with his ability to see but…

"Heh, beaten by you of all people…" Orleans laughs, "Be careful of Shinji and you might just win this, Rookie."

I smile sheepishly even though I know he couldn't see it, "Well admittedly you were already mostly destroyed… Most of the work was done by Madoka-nee."

He merely chuckles, "It just means that for a rookie you learned fast." What does that mean? As if sensing my confusion he continues on, "Morning Star sensed you up the river before, as you watched the fight. You let another fight your fight for you and came in at the end to secure a win with minimal damage. That's how a true raven thinks." He laughs, I cannot tell whether he was actually amused or whether that last was merely his cynicism showing, "Think Ichika, the ACs are not the weapons of a brute but the weapons of a thinking man. As long as you know how to pick your fights you'll do great. The lughead that charges straight in is nothing more than a dead man." …Was he calling out Berlioz? "I should've remembered that and escaped but I did not. This victory is all yours Ichika Orimura."

I would've responded had his barrier not sprung into existence before I could say anything.

That's four down, it's just me, Shinji, and Kanzashi now.

* * *

"Hostile AC detected. Hostile IS detected."

Several minutes had passed since my fight with Orleans and it had taken all that time of random wondering to even find a hint to the location of the remaining AC and the IS.

"AC Genesis identified. Registered under the class S raven Shinji Hikaru the Genesis is a highly experimental reverse jointed lightweight AC whom uses only a pair of Zlatko low ammo, high damage sniper rifles. As the Genesis is configured for long-range guerilla warfare tactics and Shinji himself prefers to engage in mid to close range combat there is a disconnect between AC configuration and Pilot tactics. Please note that AC Genesis is equipped with a prototypical Jamming cloak that greatly complicates my FCS's job of keeping track of him."

"IS Uchigane Nishiki identified. A personally IS registered under the representative cadet of Japan Kanzashi Sarashiki. No known data."

'No known data?'

"I only have the barest access to IS related data, master. I apologize for any inconveniences this may cause." I sigh deeply. Of course everything can't be that easy can it?

I could vaguely see the two all the way down the street. AC Genesis was standing for the most part perfectly still in the middle of the street while the IS was strafing about in such a way that her back was never turned to him. There wasn't a point in even asking, both AC Genesis and the IS were both damaged, albeit not to the same extent as Morning Star had quite obviously been…

A round pings off my core. From this range? There was at least 150 meters between us… I suppose there's no point hanging back anymore, they both probably already know that I am here, or at least Shinji does at least. With a simple mental command my boosters reactivate and I duck into an alley before a second shot could be fired. After about 30 seconds I reappear in the same street Genesis was standing in, slightly behind him-

WHACK

Which naturally he had seen coming as his pounce so obviously showed. Well I must say that this is the first time I've ever been legitimately jumped upon before… Suddenly missiles, missiles everywhere! Before I could really even move out of the way the entire area around me was for all intents and purposes carpet-bombed with missiles from presumably Kanzashi. Shinji naturally managed to jump away just in time to avoid the swarm, his jump digging me more into place.

By the time I could really consider what I could do there was already a halberd coming down onto me that I had to activate my laser blades to block. Not good, I actually needed to lean back as she managed to turn her swing into a thrust and almost took my head off with the otherwise blocked melee weapon… Relief came in the form of a pair of clubs smacking her barriers and causing her to back away from me. Oh wait, those are rifles being held by the barrel. Was Shinji out of ammo already?

"Master… this may be a bad time to mention it but we're down to only 30% AP. I recommend you be extremely careful from now on." Already…?

'Duly noted!'

The rifle clubs are swung back around almost hitting me in the face before I quick boosted backwards and away from them. Shinji himself also quick boosted towards Kanzashi to perform a full 360 spin to smack the IS's shields with his repurposed sniper rifles. Considering Kanzashi actually had flinched from the hit that didn't even physically connect with her I could only imagine that Shinji hits hard with those things…

Shinji was forced to jump away as Kanzashi brought her Halberd around in an attempt to finish him off that failed. Seeing a chance I clench my right hand and move in on her only to be warded off by plasma fire from a pair of cannons that had swung up from under her arms. A halberd, plasma cannons, and a boatload of missiles…? That is one diversely armed IS. This isn't good…

Kanzashi is the only one of use with ranged weapons here isn't she? Why is she still on the ground then? Neither of us could get to her in the air…

A weight detaches from my back… My EOs? Thank you Direwolf, I'd forgotten all about those!

Briefly Kanzashi's eyes widened as I, or rather Direwolf, brought a new weapon to the party. As my Exceed Orbits began spitting pulse rounds at her and I charged forward Shinji himself came up from behind and attempted to smack her again. She wouldn't have any of it though and finally decided to at least jump over his swing. Should I be concerned that my EOs hit the wrong target? No, probably not.

With a quick boost I also jump, my dragonslayer igniting… and grazing her shields.

It was enough. This time I know I saw her eyes widen as a mere graze caused her shield energy to bottom out completely. Comparable destructive power to Nee-sama's Yukihira? Yes that's an adequate comparison I'd think.

"Hostile IS neutralized."

As I touch down on the ground again, Kanzashi powerlessly doing so as well a few meters away I heard a faint click, almost like- I turn around, the Genesis was pointing one of it's rifles at me. There was another click and with it Shinji spoke, "Ha! Amaya always said that she thought the Zlatkos had too little ammo but did I listen? No." He drops his rifles, "Perhaps I should start carrying a backup weapon, eh?"

"Always a safe bet." He really was out of ammo…? Does that mean...?

"Heh. Funny, we're both at about 9000 AP." Did he just scan me? "So… Wanna do this the old fashioned way?"

I feel my brow furrow, "…The Old Fashioned way…?"

Shinji laughed boisterously. I can just tell that if I were to see his face he would have a massive grin plastered upon it, "A powered armored fist fight of course! Only way we can make this fair from here on. Well as fair as it could be, you could pack more weight into your punches."

Briefly I catch it. A slight motion of his AC's head, jerking upward and towards the… The crowd? I'd forgotten all about them! They were going wild up there and now that I noticed them I could vaguely hear them cheering, one half of the arena cheering for me and the other chanting Shinji's name. I understand his gesture immediately, 'Think of the crowd.' He wants to make this end in a show.

Direwolf's mechanical voice interrupted my thoughts, "Master, I beg you to reconsider…"

'Sorry Direwolf…' Hey a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. I couldn't just take such a cheap win. Especially not when Shinji challenged me like so.

Letting a small smirk grace my face I let my EOs settle back down upon my back and say, "Could we end this any better?"

"No we can not." He settles into a stance not unlike that of a professional boxer. This is the first time I really got a good look at his AC Genesis. Most of it was covered by a two-piece cloak that only allowed his arms and legs free movement, the experimental cloak Direwolf had mentioned earlier. What little I could actually see was painted a regal purple with the occasional patch of green placed tastefully here and there. His… Head, I suppose, was barely deserving of the name, more like a satellite dish than anything else. His legs were shaped almost like a squashed Z or an S with the most forward part, the one attached to his core, being just long enough to fit a man's leg in. If I had no idea what that cloak was for I'd probably think he looked utterly ridiculous.

I grinned as I took a stance of my own. As the crowd caught on to what was about to happen I swear they doubled in volume. With the roar of the crowd all around us we charged fists ready and-

* * *

PANG!

"IDIOT!"

I really should've seen this coming. I know deciding to let it come down to a fist on fist slug out when I had such a distinct advantage was stupid but come on Chifuyu-nee, "I won didn't I!"

PANG!

"You won on a technicality!" I deserved that one. I should know better than to talk back to Chifuyu-nee like that, "That last cross counter sent both of your AP down to zero, his just hit zero _milliseconds_ before your own!"

I barely manage to stop a massive grin from appearing on my face as Chifuyu continues ranting on and on about what I had done wrong. It was her way of showing she cared after all. Besides, truly there couldn't have been a better way to start off the year right?

* * *

An old crimson suited man sat within his office, a glass of wine in one hand and a report in the other. A smirk was plastered upon his face as he traded one report for another from his desk and casually leaned back in his chair to read. A request to purchase 2-dozen AC cores sent by the United States, a financial document detailing how a recently formed United Kingdom based corporation was already eligible for full partnership, a list of all newly recruited ravens, a grand total of 84 in the span of a single month…

Open warfare between North and South Korea, Ravens being hired to support both sides. Age-old religious tensions reigniting in bloodshed and turmoil in the Middle East, Ravens being hired by all non-UN backed sides involved. Frederick Rayleonard's preliminary campaign plans for a mass counterattack in an all but inevitable war with Canada's nearest southern neighbor. Ruined Country Weaving Corporation's progress report on the Autonomous AC project and a detailed report on how effective they are compared to manned ACs and IS...

As the carefully crafted world peace created through fear and treaties began to be undone, as war and bloodshed began to engulf the world, no one could deny that Takafumi Arisawa, head of Arisawa Heavy Industry and Crimson Oceans PMC, was a very, very pleased man.

* * *

A/N: I hate apple computers. I seriously had to switch computers to get this uploaded and posted because my dearly hated apple laptop wouldn't connect to the internet... despite the fact that I literally wired it to the internet modem.

I could've written a chapter long intermission before chapter 7 detailing the changes throughout the world due to the appearance of the Ravens and their ACs but I figured that a single short scene starring Takafumi Arisawa got the job done in a slightly more effective manner. That isn't pointless fluff. While I won't spoil anything major I will confirm that Act II will focus primarily upon those conflicts.

Fun Fact: the OCs that participated within the battle royale are actually not custom made for this story. Orleans and Maria are hold outs from when I was considering novelizing ACFA. Orleans would've been the ORCA affiliated hero and Maria would've been the League affiliated hero. Shinji, Amaya, and the Crimson Ocean's PMC are actually from an Evangelion/Armored Core crossover I have mostly planned out but don't particularly feel like writing at the moment.

By the way... now that I think about it I seem to remember that when I first stumbled into this fanfiction archive back when IS was still airing in japan there was another Infinite Stratos fanfic that used elements of Armored Core. I can't find it anymore, was it perhaps deleted or is my memory just faulty?

Thank you for reading and have a very nice day.


	7. Two Transfer Students…?

A/N: GOMENESAI! After such a long wait I only released a shorter chapter than usual... (Actually it's longer than chapter 2)

Disclaimer: I own neither Infinite Stratos nor Armored Core.

* * *

Chapter 7

Two Transfer Students…?

* * *

Well this isn't good…

Madoka-nee has been giving me the cold shoulder since the match and frankly it's starting to remind me of Chifuyu-nee when… yeah, bad thoughts. Even now, Monday of the third week, does she continually leveling that pouty glare at me whenever I try talking to her… Actually it's rather cute but still…

I sigh deeply, putting a piece of my obligatory breakfast Salmon down before speaking, "Alright, I'll bite," Both other occupants of the table looked up, Houki with a quirked eyebrow and Madoka with that same pouty glare she has had for the past week, "Madoka-nee, Why are you so angry at me?"

"To not even know why… Hmph!" Really? Did she really just fold her arms and cock her head to one side like that?

"Of course not. I'm 'as dense as the base earth upon which we stand.'" Or so Dan says anyway. Both girls blink. What? Was it so surprising for me to say that or something?

"Uh…" Madoka-nee sputtered for a few seconds. Hmm… Isn't this how Chifuyu-nee acted when I brought up the prospect of her getting a boyfriend a few years ago? With a sigh she seemed to finally relent and said, "Fine… Remember in the battle royale when I was fighting Orleans?"

I wince already knowing where she was going with this, "Yes…"

"You watched me and didn't even bother trying to help me." Wha- That scolding voice is far to similar to Chifuyu-nee! I'd prefer it if you were shouting at me Chifu- Madoka-nee!

"W-well you did say you weren't going to help _me_ either."

"That's not the point." Such dismissal… and please don't narrow your eyes like that, it's so Chifuyu-like it physically hurts! After a second she goes back to giving me that mildly cute but still rather pouty glare.

Once again I sigh deeply, "…What do you want?"

She looks vaguely thoughtful for a second before she gave a small smirk… Oh god I recognize that smirk, "Hmm… How about… you feed me your Salmon."

*beat*

What. She did not just request that.

Looking down at my delicious fishy goodness I sigh once more. I really couldn't deny her this, "…Fine." I casually pick a delicious piece up and hold it out for her. She actually looked surprised; don't tell me she had been expecting me to deny her? Then with a grin she just opened her mouth and closed her eyes. I don't bother even trying to renege on it now; I slip the delicious morsel into her mouth with only the barest hint of remorse.

Houki, you should really chew your food more thoroughly to avoid choking in the future, that's the third time in the last minute.

*PAM*

Houki slammed her hands onto the table with an… indignant cry of, "I can't take it anymore!" What is she on about?

Madoka-nee waved dismissingly, "Oh please, it's just a little apology. Siblings do it all the time." Actually Chifuyu-nee favors massages nowadays, I guess stealing my food got old for her or something.

Houki glared at her for a second before turning her gaze back to me. Ow, ow, that hurts; you could've at least canceled that unnecessary death glare! She sounded shriller than usual as she all but shouted, "Who is this person?" Wait what? Didn't I already say tha- "And don't say that she's your 'sister' 'cause I knew you when you were a child and I do not recall you having a second sister!"

Ah. That makes sense. Come to think of it why did I automatically believe Madoka anyway…? I mean she quite obviously is my sister, her interactions with Chifuyu all but confirmed that, but I really should've been more skeptical… Unsurprisingly it was Madoka who chose to answer her, "My, didn't we already say? I'm his younger twin siste-" she actually flinched as Houki just turned her head and stared at her with a perfectly dead expression.

"My parents chose to take her when they left." It is awkward having both of them just instantly turn their heads and stare at me like that, "What? I'm right aren't I? Otherwise Chifuyu-nee wouldn't react like that to your presence."

Houki opened her mouth to speak but Madoka interrupted her, speaking slowly, "There's… a little more to that story but…" her eye's suddenly widen.

"…Chifuyu-nee is standing right behind me isn't she?" After a second Houki nods at my cautiously asked question. I can just tell that Chifuyu-nee is glaring at Madoka-nee right now and so I don't dare turn around and meet her glare even indirectly.

A whistle blew practically right in my ear and for a second I couldn't help but to ask, "WHY?!"

And now she's glaring at the back of my head. I can tell from the sudden wave of pressure and killing intent, "Breakfast is over. All of you, class, now."

* * *

SMASH

"Alright, listen up!" I swear Chifuyu-nee only has that podium around to break… Aside from Tatenashi the first day I don't think that poor thing has actually had anything set on it the entire time, only getting a couple new cracks every few days, "Today I'll be introducing a pair of transfer students to our class…" The class erupted into bursts of random chatter… for about 3 seconds before nee-sama brought the wrath of god down upon that poor podium again, "Quiet."

A small logical portion of my brain, or was that Direwolf, wondered why they would both be put into our class but that thought was pushed out of mind almost immediately by the rest of my mind chanting 'Please don't be fangirls, please don't be fangirls, please don't be my fangirls…'

While I was distracted by my mind's chanting I barely noticed the door opening and the two transfer students stepping in. In fact I only snapped out of it when someone said my name.

"Heh, what are the chances we'd both end up in the same class anyway. Let alone the same class as Ichika." The masculine voice sounded vaguely familiar but for the life of me I couldn't quite put a name to it from sound alone. I look up and find myself utterly surprised by what I find. Wearing the school uniform and standing in front of the class was my red-haired best friend, Dan Gatanda. How the hell did he become a raven, at least I'm fairly sure there is no chance he's an aspiring IS pilot, anyway? Next to him stood a figure just as recognizable, a fairly short brunette with her hair done up in a pair of twintails, who stood there smirking as she, probably unconsciously, played with a large bracelet on her arm. I haven't seen her in months but I still recognize her easily, Huang Lingyin.

'Dan Gatanda: a recently recruited class E raven whom pilots a high mobility spec heavy reverse joint AC with a heavy preference for explosive weaponry. No other known data.' A pause, "Huang Lingyin, a representative IS cadet from China whom pilots a close quarters combat oriented IS. No other known data."

…Um… Thanks Direwolf…?

…Wait Dan and Rin just walked into my classroom wearing the school uniform… There are supposedly a pair of transfer students coming to this class today… Dan and Rin just joined my class… Dan and Rin just transferred into my class… That's a tad… much to believe…

'Rebooting in 3, 2, 1'

I swear I heard an internal 'bzt' come from Direwolf whom had apparently chosen to take a weird time to reboot his system. So my good friend Dan Gatanda became a raven? Rin becoming a representative cadet makes sense but Dan suddenly becoming a raven? That's got to be an interesting story… On second thought he was probably just stupid lucky again and ended up having lunch with Takafumi Arisawa, Kyofu's mayor, industrial titan, and near legendary Private Military Contractor. Wouldn't be the first time for something like that to happened…

After a second, apparently they had introduced themselves when I wasn't paying attention, Chifuyu-nee dismissed them to sit down… When did the two seats behind me empty? Didn't Amaya and Shinji sit the-

All the way across the room Shinji discreetly attempted to shake awake Amaya whom had apparently fallen asleep when no one was looking. Luckily for her, Chifuyu-nee was putting far more attention into glaring a hole through Madoka-nee… Regardless Dan and Rin ended up taking those two's old seats, Dan directly behind me and Rin, slightly disappointed for some reason, behind him.

They knew better than to outright talk to me when Chifuyu-nee was both the teacher and glaring like that so they didn't. Good for them. It probably saved all three of us some... alot of trouble… Although I still couldn't help but feel worried, I mean that glare Chifuyu-nee was giving… What could I be missing about that whole situation?

* * *

"The hell? Why does the all girl schools get all the good food?"

…Now that Dan mentions it the cafeteria food at our old school has nothing on this... didn't even have any of the holy delicacy known to this world as Salmon. Praise be to the Salmon. Indeed as I recall our old school had an obscene love of chicken and cheese. It was rare to have a day without either of those in the lunch lines… But no Salmon so it was automatically infinitely worse.

"…Perhaps because this is a private school and you two attended a public school before." Rin deadpanned. Ouch, even I could pick up on the sarcasm from that one.

I can't help but to think that this is just like old times. Truly it is as if we'd never separated to begin with. I mean of course Dan's first words to me would be about food, I mean its Dan of all people. Dan, the only person who has ever to my knowledge had the audacity mooch a meal off the infamously dangerous mayor of Kyofu and get away with not even footing the bill, Dan.

"Oh Rin," Both of the others turned their heads to me, "You became the representative cadet for China didn't you? Congratulations." That was lame and I know it. Dan's amused smirk was completely unnecessary. Huh? Why is Rin's face turning red? Is she holding her breath or something? Oh tell me almighty salmon!

'She is blushing, Ichika.' My prayer has been answere- Oh wait it's just Direwolf.

"Hehe… Yeah… not that impressive really." Where was the usual self-confident superiority cla- "For one as strong as me at least." Never mind, she was merely being dramatic.

Dan chuckled, "Hey, Rin, did you hear about what happened in Kyofu a few months back?" Huh? Has it really been so long since I did that?

"Not really." Rin shrugged, "I did hear that supposedly 3 IS attempted to raid somewhere and got completel-" she trailed off, no doubt putting the pieces together, "You mean that was Kyofu?"

Dan grinned and crossed his arms, "Yeah, that was Kyofu. Care to guess who did it exactly?" What was he going for here…?

"Defeated the IS…?" at Dan's nod she continued and gave the expected, but wrong, answer, "Well it had to be Chifuyu right? I mean who else could take on 3 IS and walk away the winner?"

…Ouch.

Dan's grin merely grew wider as he chose to answer not with words but by merely pointing in my direction. Rin cast a look at me before looking at Dan with a raised eyebrow and looking back to me again. She repeated this sequence several times before it appeared to finally sink in to her what he had been implying.

"Eh?" Eh? Just Eh? Is that really all you can say about that completely absurd notion?

Dan merely nodded, "Yeah. Saw it with my own two eyes." …Really? How come he never mentioned anything about it then? Then again I didn't really talk to him after the event in question had actually happened, the media had practically trapped me into the house, "That's not the best part though, he _punched_ them to death!" he actually punched the air between us at that, "I even saw him punch one so hard his fist got stuck in the arm of the IS he punched, and then he followed it up with a punch in it's stomach so hard he literally _disemboweled_ it." …I really should tell him that I actually had used knives for that but…

Rin, whom had gone back to consuming her ramen, had actually choked on her noodles when he mentioned the disemboweling. She should really be more careful about that, I recall she used to do that a lot whenever Dan went over some sort of story. Hmm…? Why is she suddenly paling like that? There wasn't anything particularly wrong about that or anything was there?

"I-I uh…" She stuttered.

"…got to use the bathroom?" I finish for her. Apparently I had been correct as she bolted out of her chair at that exact moment and ran out of the cafeteria without another word. She does realize that lunch break will end before she finishes he ramen should she take to long right? All the while Dan just laughed, hard, stopping only to stuff some of his Chadolbegi into his mouth. How rude, you shouldn't mock someone for merely waiting too long.

* * *

"We've entered the operation area." A mechanical but still rather quiet voice cut through the silence, "Master I've tagged several problematic positions within the combat area, I would recommend that we eliminate them as soon as possible."

Gruff and authoritive the voice of an older man answered back, barely paying attention as several soft pings, 7.62 rounds from the sound of it, failed to even reduce his AP, "Affirmative, keep an eye on our other wingman for the day, would you." As another 10 or so round pinged off his armor he seriously considered ending the man's life but in the end figured there was little point. The bullet would cost more then he would be receive for such an inconsequential target. After a second, before the man had even emptied his second magazine into his armor there was a crash and the Raven didn't even bother looking to see what had happened.

"Why are you so merciful anyway, Berlioz? There was a chance the man could've grabbed an RPG or something." A French accented feminine voice asked of him.

Berlioz shook his head within his powered armor's 'cockpit,' "Hmph, what's a measly 100 AP out of, what, thirty, forty thousand, Anjou?"

"More than the cost of one bullet," Anjou sardonically replied, "Let's get to work, that other AC may rat on us for talking on the job."

Berlioz scoffed as he eased up the power on his boosters and began rocketing towards their first objective, an armored group that had been causing the Israelis in the area some minor difficulties. After a second the other AC pulled up alongside him. The two ACs were identical designs, the bodies at least. Both were extremely streamlined and seemed to have more in common with modern fighter plans then modern battle tanks, the primary Rayleonard AC model, the 03-Aaliyah. Mind you, they did still have quite a bit of armor.

The only differences between the two ACs were in their armament and their pilot's personal emblems. Berlioz's black painted AC Supplice, or Terror, was clearly the ranged combatant of the two, slightly slower than his partner but apparently better armed with boxy rifle in one hand, an angular, almost bladelike, rifle in the other, and a large cannon folded upon his back. The Other AC, Anjou's AC Orleans, only appeared to have a short machine gun in one hand and an unusually flat cannon folded on the same shoulder, her other hand presumably having a laser blade installed and thus needing to be free to be effective.

As they came over a final dune, a 125mm shell was shot between them; the first shot fired in the first Israeli hired Raven strike, and certainly not the last...

* * *

A/N: Sorry, sorry, I'm so late with this. I've been distracted by proofreading/co-writing a fanfiction for a good friend of mine and have been, for all intents and purposes, hand making a simple Disgaea themed tabletop RPG.

Yes, I have decided to include a few ravens/lynx as minor characters, although those two were obvious the moment i revealed Maria Berlioz and Orleans de Anjou. I don't think anyone expected Dan Gatanda to appear did they.

It's quite nice to see people taking potshots at the true intentions of Takafumi Arisawa and the corporations. I suppose it's only a matter of time before someone realizes what exactly they're going for.

Since some may easily miss the implication I made with Rin's final scene I'll explain it: She didn't know the IS were automatons, in fact she refused to believe the golem was unmanned even in canon. From the description she believes Ichika_ literally disemboweled_ someone. I'm only explaining this because the friend I had proofread this honestly didn't pick up on it.

I would like to wish you all to have a very nice day/week.


	8. I Question This Information You Give Me

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Seriously I'm even using a library computer to upload this because I don't feel like dealing with another virus scan and hour long debugging session again.

* * *

Chapter 8

I Question This Information You Give Me.

* * *

I sigh as the second final class of yet another day rolls by. Wonder when Nee-sama will bother officially announcing the interclass tournament? Better question yet, I wonder who my opponents would be from Classes 2 and 3. Huh? Not much of a tournament now that I think of it, there are only 4 classes and hence competitors.

I really should ask Chifuyu-nee about what Madoka-nee had meant by 'There's a little more to that story' at some point but my sense of self preservation blares whenever I get the chance. I know better than to ask her when she's not in the best of moods, she tends to get exceedingly hostile whenever the topic ever came up in the past and now that Madoka-nee is here…

I wince as both my sisters start glaring at each other again now that they have nothing better to do during class switch. This is starting to get ridiculous; I think the next class over can even physically tell whenever these 'confrontations' occur, straight through the wall. I'm honestly surprised no one asked about this yet… then again I would have no response even if they had.

…

I have to ask; at this point it truly is past the point of ridiculousness. But when would be the best time to attempt doing so without getting myself horrifically maimed…? That's a very good question and one I do not believe I'll ever be able to answer, especially not when they're both in the same room. Well actually now that I think of it, getting Chifuyu-nee drunk would probably work out well for me. She tends to be surprisingly calm whenever she get's drunk. But this is a school. There's no way Chifuyu-nee would keep a stash of booze anywhere, she's much too responsible for something like tha-

'-aster' huh? Direwolf was trying to get my attention, 'Master, class has started 5 minutes ago.'

5 minutes…? And Chifuyu-nee of all people didn't notice my inattentiveness…? That is it, sometime today I _must_ ask. Nee-sama being distracted by Madoka-nee this much is absurd.

'Also, master, I have received a message from AC Ferdinand. He wishes to know when you would be interested in undergoing an Order Match with him, to advance through the ranks.' Oh, Isabeau.

I really do need to stop spacing out like this. Eventually Chifuyu-nee really will notice. And that would be _horrific_.

* * *

The final period of the day flies by without a hitch, or rather without more of a hitch than usual. Just as Madoka-nee and Chifuyu-nee were about to start their staring contest again I stand, taking extra caution to intentionally place myself between the two of them without making it obvious that I was intentionally doing so. I honestly have no idea why I thought it necessary to be subtle about that but it seems like a good idea so I'll just roll with it. Chifuyu-nee merely quirked an eyebrow at me as I moved towards her, one crisis averted.

"Ano…" I began. Whereas Chifuyu-nee was openly hostile to mentions of our parents I always became awkward when the subject was brought up, even when Direwolf merely mentions Ruined Country Weaving Corporation, "Can I talk to you?"

Chifuyu-nee just gave me a deadpan look and said quite simply, "Yes."

"It's about…" I trail off. It was almost instinctual of me to stop all conversations regarding our parents in Chifuyu-nee's presence unless it was really important so I knew Chifuyu-nee would understand immediately what I was talking about.

She looked vaguely confused for a split second before she caught on to what I was implying. As expected her expression instantly hardened, "Of course. Can you come to my office in about 10 minutes?" The only response I give is a nod. I quickly move to leave the room with the usual slightly late leaving crowd and note almost instantly that with me no longer in the way my sisters had begun their stare off again. Although from how intense this one felt I couldn't help but to think that I had made it worse than usual, sorry Madoka-nee!

* * *

I probably should've asked Chifuyu-nee where her office actually was before I went looking for it but once again it was Direwolf who came to the rescue. Indirectly. Apparently the school website has an updated map on it, room numbers and teacher names included. And Direwolf said that there was no way a place with the potential to be a 'terrorist magnet' would ever keep such a thing on the free Internet… He was wrong as I proved using his built in Internet connection.

I didn't need to wait long for her to arrive. Chifuyu-nee was always very punctual, it was always one of her good traits. I didn't get to say anything to her as she entered as she immediately b-lined for her desk to… is that a bottle of whiskey? Before I could even react she'd taken the cork off and drank a long swig. Neither of us were particularly looking forward to this conversation it seems…

After several seconds she frowns and takes a glance at her bottle, "...I need something heavier for this." She sighs deeply, "Guess I'll have to get the other bottle as well…"

"That's… not a very good habit." Well, now that I think of it, she always did have a few bottles of sake stashed away at various places back home. I tried not to comment on it to her as she never actually seemed to drink the stuff although now I see she'd merely been stockpiling.

She didn't comment, instead choosing to give me a very light glare. Translation: 'I know you're right, don't remind me.' After a few seconds and a last swig she replaces the cork from her bottle and stashes it in her desk again, "What did you want to know, exactly?"

…Honestly I'd thought that she'd be more opposed to speaking of this. Looking back on it I honestly expected to get blown off when I had approached her in the classrooms, "Well… I never received much of a story at all, we were both rather reluctant to talk of it…"

"And now that Madoka is here we can no longer ignore it? Is that what you were trying to say?" at my nod she shakes her head and continues with a sigh, "Our mother, Chisatsu Orimura, is a terrorist. In fact the last few generations of our family have been composed almost entirely of either terrorists or revolutionaries, whichever they prefer calling themselves at any particular moment." I blink, hard. There were many things I expected to hear but something like _that_, "I was slated to be the next head after that woman finally got offed. We ended up having a disagreement, or rather several, and the rest is history."

I opened my mouth to speak but she cut me off, now that she'd gotten started she didn't wish to stop, "When she left she left you with me and took Madoka to be her heir in my place. Don't trust her, either of them, that woman's a known liar and the girl probably has been her protégé for _years_. There's no telling wha- *hic* what-" is she already drunk, "they're capable of. Who cares if that woman entered the business world, it HAS to be a *hic* a front for Phantom Task!"

Choosing to ignore the fact that she was somehow drunk already I decide to ask, "What's Phantom Task?"

Chifuyu-nee pulls the bottle out again and takes another swig before replacing it again, "It's the name of tha- *hic* that damn terrorist organization of hers! They stole military grade weaponry before the IS and then they stole th- *hic* the IS! Now they literally produce those damn ACs! I don't care if they're technically legal, they have to be doing _something_ behind the scenes!"

'Master, Ruined Country Weaving Corporation's Phantom Task is merely their PMC arm. If you want professional terrorists look no farther than Eqbal's Mujahideen.' Direwolf commented, 'Also, master, I believe your sister is quite clearly drunk, she is already slurring her speech together.'

...I suppose I shouldn't ignore it any longer then, "…Chifuyu-nee… are you… drunk?"

"Huh?" she made an exaggerated hand motion that sent a pile of paperwork flying, "Of course not! How could I get drunk after ju- *hic* just two swigs? I'm just… I'm just *hic* tired… that's all…" I watched Chifuyu-nee's head slowly fall to the table. It was kind of amusing honestly, never really thought of Chifuyu-nee as such a lightweight when it came to liquor.

With a shake of my head my curiosity gets the better of me and I pull open the drawer Chifuyu-nee had stashed her booze in to check the label.

Huh? Vodka?

* * *

It was seven by the time that I decided to pop into the garages. There were several things I didn't quite like about my equipment layout. The Exceed Orbits, while useful, just seemed too… impersonal for me. Wonder if Isabeau is there? I could use an excuse to test a new weapon loadout, assuming I actually go through with that.

Huh? Another garage area was claimed? Didn't really need to check the name slate to correctly guess that it was Dan's. He wasn't in at the moment however, so I pop into Isabeau's to say hi. It was similar to the last time I entered, in fact he still leaned back in the same chair with the same headphones over his ears while his AC has parts were mechanically replaced, this time his left hand gatling gun for an even larger multi-barreled weapon, an autocannon. He notices me surprisingly quickly considering he wasn't looking in my direction and there was no way he could hear me with both his headphones on and with how noisy that machine was with his AC.

"Hey Ichika." he pulls the headphones off and sets them on the table, "Your name is Ichika right…?" He said the second half of that so unsurely…

My eyebrow rises unconsciously, "Yeah, my name is Ichika. Your name is Isabeau right?"

It took me a second to realize that his name probably wasn't actually Isabeau and that the name was probably just an alias he used while dressing like… a maid with a rather short skirt. Considering the skirt, how has no one found out that he's actually a guy yet? The fangirls explicitly called Dan the 'forth' as opposed to the 'fifth' so they still couldn't know yet.

"Yes." He scowls, "It is actually."

"…Seriously?"

"Isabeau Cardona. My mother refused to believe that she could've had a boy and so only had girls names available when I was born." He sighed deeply, "It's so annoying! Although I suppose it gives me an excuse to use this method to avoid dealing with…" we both shudder already knowing and hating where he was going with that, "…_them_."

"I hear you. I wish I had a convenient method to get the fangirls off my back like you…"

The boy in the maid outfit shrugged, "You could just make everyone think you're gay."

I blink, "Gay…?"

"Yes, as in homosexual. Make them think you're interested in men and I could almost guarantee that they'd leave you alone… or at least be less… militant about it." Flashes of that time Orleans actually had to deploy his AC to escape a fangirl trap rose unbidden to my mind. Amusing to watch, not so amusing to be a part of.

"What? Are you offering to help or something?" Ok seriously, no matter how dense I appear to be at times even I know that was an incredibly stupid thing to say. The fact that it made the trapish boy literally choke on his own spit only made this more clear.

"W-what?!" he grabbed a cup of coffee from the side of his terminal and downs what remained of it in a single go in an effort to prevent himself from coughing his own heart out, "Ugh, No, nononono! Everyone still thinks I'm a girl anyway so doing so will just attract the fangirls to ME as well!" He looked like I just accused him of heresy before an agent of the inquisition or something, "Ugh, I'll consider it if anyone… c-checks under my skirt b-but…" I don't think he's getting enough air; his face is already turning an extremely bright red and he's started stuttering, "What the hell did you want anyway, an order match?"

"Honestly I just popped in to say 'hi' before I made some modifications to my AC but an order match would be nice too I guess."

"Great!" he shoves his headphones on again to signify that he was done talking to me. Kiiiinda rude there…

With a shrug I merely turn around and head to my workspace. Perhaps I should've asked for equipment advice? I have no idea what to equip anymore.

'Master, I suppose now would be the best time to mention this but-" he started speaking in my head and finished without even a slight pause through his external speakers as he materialized in the center of the room. That was… disorienting to say the least. Regardless he continued, now completely unaware of my innermost thoughts… I think anyway, "-We've been given authorization to use several dozen first generation parts developed by Bernard War Industries, Akavit, and Eqbal as well as some experimental parts developed by Arisawa Heavy Industries and Rayleonard."

"It appears that Eqbal is a start up company and is giving free samples in order to recruit veteran Ravens to their payroll. Amaya Hikaru additionally wishes to extend an offer to join Arisawa Heavy Industries' Crimson Ocean PMC but fully expects you to deny the offer." Amaya? I figured that it would be Shinji who would do something like that, "Additionally we've received a formal invitation to join Ruined Country Weaving Corporation's Phantom Task PMC." Phantom Task…? I can't help but wonder if Chifuyu-nee was exaggerating in a drunken haze, which would be so unlike her, or if she was completely serious about mother and her company. Either way I do not quite feel safe even considering that request…

"Master, I also have a request," Huh? Maybe I'm not imagining Direwolf's rapidly increasing sentience. I wonder when that started anyway? When I met him he had difficulties understanding what exactly I was saying, especially the emotion behind it and now he's almost… humanlike in speech himself. Unaware of my inner musings, I think anyway, Direwolf continued undaunted, "May I remove the shield from my leg unit and replace it on one of my arm units? It's up to you whether you wish to replace the Shotgun with it or place it on my free arm. As it would be basically bolted onto the arm you _should_ be able to activate a laser blade even with it equipped."

Why would you mount a shield on someone's knee anyway? I mean you would have to kneel to use it and that would of course dramatically reduce movement… Actually it probably was intended for that, I can just imagine that the ACs were meant to wield far larger weaponry than what is commonplace now, like the sniper cannon that Naname Bernard used in 1-1's class representative match… An arm based shield could prove useful against something like that Sniper Cannon of hers that appeared to take hundreds of shield points of an IS like nothing, "...That sounds almost too good to be true. What could possibly go wrong with that?"

Naturally Direwolf had to answer, "Many things. This is theoretical only and no parts have been developed to accommodate such a change. As I'll literally have to jury rig the shield to the arm itself repairs may become a tad difficult if the entire arm is damaged beyond repair as you would have to purchase an entirely new set of arms as well as a new set of legs only for the shield itself. Additionally there has been no testing on whether or not such a change would actually allow the user to activate a laser blade with the shield still attached without consequence so don't take my word for it. Honestly it would be better to just buy a physical shield but as we do not have access to any at this point this is the next best solution."

…I could've done without hearing tha- Wait buy?

"What do you mean by 'buy' new parts?"

"Naturally." Somehow he sounded so smug despite speaking in only a deadpan, "Did you think I spawned the materials to make these parts from the ether? In the corner of the ACSIS screen there is a count on your available funds." I look and find said number fairly easily. That's a fairly large figure really, "You earn money for eliminating enemy targets and completing missions. You can also get paid by working a part time job at a gas station." That sounded almost… sarcastic, "However you may lose funds from Repair and Ammo Expenses. Oh and Master, that figure is in AU, an equivalent to the Canadian dollar, not yen."

…Wait isn't a Canadian dollar worth just under 80 yen each…? 1,403,694 Canadian dollars equates to what? Hundreds of Millions of yen? That is… a lot more money than it looked like at first.

I shrug. This is too much to consider for just one little choice, "Just do it."

"Very well master. Is there anything else you wish to modify about my design?"

I think about it for a second, "What alternatives to we have for the Exceed Orbits anyway? They're a tad… impersonal for me."

"Well there are Orbit Cannons, expendable fully autonomous drones that pursue and attack their target when launched. The only model we have is a Thermal Energy variant from Bernard War Industries. " Hmm… I believe those were the same things that Naname used in her match back then, "There are also Eqbal's Thermal Cloaks and Arisawa Heavy Industries experimental Chaff Cloak. The Thermal Cloak raises an ACs overall resistance to thermal energy attacks, although they're primarily made to combat the high temperatures of the Middle East. The Chaff Cloak was Shinji's attempt to hinder opposing forces automatic lock-on capabilities. While apparently successful it hasn't been cleared for full production as of yet. You could also go back to carrying a recon unit. They are not weapons but they are still useful."

Cloaks… almost tempted to mount one solely because it'd probably make me look awesome. On the other hand, the sane, rational portion of my mind said that the Orbit Cannons would be the best bet, "I'll take the Orbit Cannons."

"Yes Master. Is there anything else you wish to add?"

I shake my head, "No."

"Very well. I shall inform you when I am done, it should only take about an hour."

* * *

A/N: Yeah my home computer's got that fake Adobe Flash Player update virus for the second time this month because the second person that uses this computer has no idea what she is doing. At least this time dug it into her skull not to dare try it again.

So there you have it. As you can probably tell I like pacing myself, that Chifuyu scene was originally planned to be the END of the Orimura arc instead of the beginning of it. So no, that isn't the end of it, not by a long shot. Poor Ichika, finally getting the chance to get information from someone and that someone ends up drinking herself into oblivion mid conversation.

As for Isabeau... Ichika, like most unwanted harem leads, is an idiot. Even if I did make him somewhat smarter at times he's still going to be _that_ kind of idiot. And now I am tempted to add Isabeau to Ichika's Harem as the blatant Tsundere whom just so happens to be a trap. If you have a complaint about that by all means tell me, because if I do do it It'll be finalized next chapter.

Au = CAD? Rayleonard. I suppose using Euros for the conversion would've made more sense but that would increase the amount by a further 120% roughly and Ichika's bank account is already just about bottomless as it is. I say that Euros would make more sense because from what I gather AU is basically the universal monetary system for the corporations while the Euro is the universal monetary system for Europe.

Speaking of Ichika's bank account. I believe I calculated by giving him 200,000AU for ever AC or IS her disabled, the 3 Golem prototypes, Massicot, Morning Star, Genesis, and the Uchigane Nishiki. I actually believe I miscounted somewhere and gave him an extra 200,000 but let's just say that's his opening account balance and leave it at that. *Nervous Chuckle*

I was originally going to add another intermission to this chapter to detail what Tabane's up to but there were two problems with that, A. It wouldn't have been very long, and B. I still haven't entirely decided between which of the two ideas I want to go with. She'll be introduced to the plot sooner than canon, I'll tell you that much.

Again it you have any questions, comments, or concerns do not hesitate to ask. Unless the answer would require me to spoil a later occurrence in the plot I'll at least _try_ to answer.

Speaking of, a long delayed answer: Kanzashi has the Uchigane because the company that was to create her IS is also the company that created the Byakushiki. If I recall correctly, the Byakushiki was a failed project that Tabane herself stepped in to finish. I was trying to imply that said company did make Kanzashi an actual custom IS... but screwed it up.

Now if you excuse me I'm going to go run another virus scan.

Please R&R and have a nice day.


	9. One More Couldn't Hurt Right?

Disclaimer: I ain't own nothin'!

* * *

Chapter 9

One More Couldn't Hurt Right?

* * *

Apparently the ACs had virtual reality software installed in them to simulate real combat environments with the actual dangers that normally involved. Amazing. At first I had been a tad skeptical when Direwolf explained it to me but sure enough... It was more amazing than I thought it'd be. Couldn't help but to wonder if such a technology could be adapted to work with those IS fighting games me and Dan used to play all the time…

Y'know, I really shouldn't be thinking about this right now.

"AP down 50 percent, stop getting distracted you idiot." Something about Direwolf's mechanical deadpan made that so much more… insulting? Is that the right word?

Regardless I almost instantly quick boost to the side to get out of the Ferdinand's firing arc before Direwolf, and I by extension, were torn to shreds by the two four-barreled 20mm autocannons that had already shredded my AP to half of what it originally was. Note to self, when your opponent kneels either get behind them or get to cover. It's doing an ungodly amount of damage despite the fact that Direwolf has a ton of KE defenses, literally.

Safely behind a building I promptly get out of there, a frontal assault is suicide when he's like that. Best bet is to find another angle of attack to close in from…

Popping out to get a look at him from what should've been his left I find him looking directly at me again, his autocannons already warming up. I waste no time ducking back into cover before the building behind where I had previously been had its entire front side completely defaced. That's the third time that's happened. How is he doing that? I'm not that predictable am I?

"Master he has a Mentor IV recon unit out. He can see your movements through the buildings just as we were able to against those IS."

…I forgot all about those. Yeah… I can see why those would be useful. So if he can see my every move though my cover and I have no way to counter this… Only one thing left to do.

"Master… No." You're not talking me out of this one, "…very well. I will turn off all non-essential systems to ease the strain on my generator. This shall allow you to get more quick boosts from our current energy pool. I blame you if we lose."

Thanks for the words of encouragement, sentient war machine.

With a leap I was on top of the building I had been hiding behind, the 20mm rounds already flying towards me… I jump again, dodging his first volley. The rounds were still coming however so I quick boosted forward before his FCS could guide his rounds on target… again. A round pings my armor somewhere and take off about 200 AP, and another round, and another. I quick boost again before he shredded too much of my AP. Only about 30 more meters…

I barely see it, two slots on his shoulders opening quickly revealing a pair of missiles ready to fire… I don't deem them worthy of dodging and merely intercept them with my impromptu shield which does it's job at soaking up most of the damage. He only took off about 250 AP per missile and the actual explosive force was almost entirely absorbed by my shield so I end up continuing on without even a slight dent in my momentum. If I stop for a moment those autocannons will shred me! Evidently the complete failure of his missiles caused him to panic as he chose to stand up and retreat, firing all the while with greatly reduced accuracy.

Now.

I quick boost directly up, dropping my shotgun as I do. Luckily it takes him a second to realize what I'd done as he continued firing at my poor shotgun instead of me. Just as he begins swinging his autocannons up to reacquire a target on me I cut off my boosters. After a second they reposition and reignite sending me straight down to him, a dozen rounds pinging off my rapidly degrading armor but leaving me with more than enough AP to make this work despite Direwolf's warning of, "AP down 90%, recommend immediate withdrawal from the combat area."

I land directly behind him, shutting my boosters completely off instantly so as to not waste any more energy. This is the last, and only, chance I will have. I activate one of my dragonslayers, the one attached to my shield arm, and rapidly spin around before he could get away or turn himself around and am rewarded with a solid slash directly across the top of his core and shoulders. His armor didn't offer very much resistance to the laser blade as it easily cleaved straight though, igniting the missile storage in his shoulders and causing a massive explosion that destroyed AC Ferdinand's box-like shoulders and sent the apparently heavyweight AC to the ground.

Why thank you Amaya Hikaru, you certainly taught me something! Even if it didn't quite work out for you…

Severely crippled and face down on the ground Ferdinand attempts to stand up using what little power continued heading down to it's arms. I didn't dare even give him the chance and so I chose to stomp on the back of his core, sending him unceremoniously back into the ground. I feel kinda bad about that… I mean he wasn't even armed anymore; he had been forced to drop his autocannons just to try getting back up, without any success.

Slowly he stops struggling and I take a step back content that the match was over.

"Maldices!" I have no idea what exactly that means but I can guess that he's probably cursing me and my family or something like that.

"Sorry... You put up a good fight at least, right?" Perhaps that wasn't the right thing to say, I mean it earned me an actual _growl_ in response. He said nothing, he just growled at me through his slightly muffled speakers. I would've said something else but the scenery abruptly began to change until finally I was back in the garage with Direwolf's screen now displaying a breakdown of what such an engagement cost or in this case earned me, which was surprisingly little compared to previous experiences. Defeating AC Ferdinand earned me about 100,000au, ammo expenditures were only about 100au from the few shotgun shells I fired off before I realized that his leg mounted shield was causing it to have no effect, and about 80,000au for all my repairs… Right, that was quite costly.

Wait, why do I get paid for what basically boils down to playing super hi tech video games anyway…?

"Master, we have advanced one rank. Our ranking is now E-19." Well… If I want to be number 1 this is going to be a long journey, "The next person you will have to defeat in order to obtain another rank is currently online as well."

…Ah what the hell, one more couldn't hurt could it?

* * *

…Yes it could.

I ended up in the sims all night long and only ended up stopping when I got to AC Zephyr, or Madoka, whom I knew was asleep. Or would've been had it not been 5:00 in the morning. After I rushed back to my room to get changed, and realize that I was hopelessly tired, I almost ended up missing breakfast and almost, almost ended up late for class which would've been infinitely worse then getting into a 3 on 1 battle against three super IS since Chifuyu-nee had a massive hangover... which I inadvertently caused. Note to self; do not dive into the sims like that unless it's a free day or something…

On the bright side I'm now rank D-10. That's gotta count for something right?

…Yeah this is going to be a horrible day isn't it?

'Master, since it appears you have nothing better to do,' traitorous AI, you could've mentioned the time last night, then I wouldn't be in this situation, '-we've received a message from AC Ferdinand…' He's not still mad is he? Completely ignoring my thoughts Direwolf continued unabated, '-and AC Zephyr. The Message from AC Zephyr is marked urgent and was sent about 30 seconds ago.'

One guess which I decided to read first.

'Ichika-nii, you spent the entire night doing order matches didn't you? You're only a single rank below me now! I'd say you probably shouldn't do that but I think you've already learned your lesson. End message.'

I shrug, 'Direwolf, I can reply to that can't I?'

'Correct. I can send a reply for you if you tell me what you wish to send.'

'Send: Haha, yeah, on every single count. Never doing that again unless it's a free day or something.'

'Is that all?'

'Do I even need to reply to that?'

'Message sent.'

Is this technically texting in class? Good thing Chifuyu-nee doesn't appear to have a way to know about this. If she did she'd probably confiscate our ACs…

I chuckle at my own bad joke, gotta stay awake somehow.

'Master I could just project my holo-keyboard onto your desk. It is effectively invisible to anyone besides yourself after all. THAT would be texting in class.'

...Of course he could do that couldn't he. Not even going to bother questioning how that's even possible. He'd probably say that the visualization of the keyboard is just my imagination or something.

'…Well actually it isn't precisely a figment of your imagination but the mechanic operates under the same principles. Additionally AC Zephyr has requested we join the channel 1-4.'

'Channel 1-4…?'

'It is for all intents and purposes a chatroom intended for Ravens to plan missions alongside their teams. However in this case I would assume that this particular channel is pretty much just a chatroom used to pass time during class.'

That's even… With a sigh I relent, 'Fine,' and a small holographic computer screen appeared directly in front of me. I'd object to how blatant that was but I stopped caring at this point. So what if anyone thinks I'm staring into nothing, I've been up for more than 24hours straight!

And of course the first thing that pops up on said screen was.

Kintaku (S-10): Jeez, what did you do, spend all night doing order matches or something?

I smash my face into my desk, incidentally right onto the keyboard, and don't even care that half the room was now looking at me with varying degrees of worry. I don't even care that I just interrupted Chifuyu-nee's lecture. Nor do I care that I do believe I could hear Amaya snickering from all the way across the room.

And at a time like this the only thing I could really think of was, 'When was the last time I met Mr. Attendence book?' …Yeah I'll just be going to sleep now. Maybe the nurse, I might've hit my desk hard enough to give myself a concussion or something. Maybe both?

* * *

"Dude… What was that all about back there?" Dan none to eloquently asked.

Five hours had past since that scene I caused in the classroom and it was now lunchtime. I had indeed gone to the nurse and also ended up sleeping there for that entire time. This school really does have an extremely nice nurse, she didn't even comment on it when she told me to go to lunch.

"…Let's just say that I'm an idiot and leave it at that." I deadpan. I swear Direwolf is infectious.

"What happened?" Houki asked with a raised eyebrow. I suppose she wouldn't have heard, her class is all the way down the hall after all.

"Ichika spontaneously smashed his head into his desk during first period and got sent to the nurse because of it." Rin explained ever so casually, "He ended up staying there the entire time, it was kind of worrying." You say that but you clearly do not sound even remotely concerned about it. That kinda hurts…

Houki made an 'O' with her mouth for a second before going back to eating seemingly without giving it a second though. Wow, that really hurts.

"It's because Nii-san decided to stay up all night doing order matches," Madoka said between bites of her… actually I don't know what that is, looks French, "He went up 30 ranks but missed out on at least 8 hours of sleep."

"30 ranks!" Dan exclaimed.

"Can we please stop talking about this? I'm still missing an extra 3 hours of sleep here."

Completely ignoring me Madoka continues, "He's D-10 now whereas he was E-20 before so that would be exactly 30." She smiles sweetly. Were she not related to Chifuyu-nee I wouldn't have any idea why I suddenly felt kinda terrified, "Don't worry, he's not getting D-9 as easily as all the rest. I'll make sure he gets all the sleep he needs!" …How can she sound so enthusiastic about something so hopelessly silly?

"Good, I can't let him reach the top before me after all!" As he leaned back in his chair and folded his arms I couldn't help but to wonder if he was going to do the same thing I did. I hope so; it would be so satisfying to rub in his face.

"I can say the same about both of you." Madoka folded her arms, a confident smirk growing on her face, "I have been doing this far longer than both of you after all! It'd be embarrassing if either of the new guys beat me."

As Dan moves to comment about that and probably end up sparking an argument I merely sigh and turn to Houki. My mind turns to the tournament, or rather my opponents. Houki would probably know more about the other classes than I would, merely by virtue of the fact that I simply never bothered finding out any more than I already knew. In the end I cannot help but to ask, "Ano… Houki, your class representative is still Naname Bernard right?"

Houki looks up at me with a raised eyebrow, "Yes."

"Ah, you wouldn't happen to know who the class representatives of the other classes are would you?" A look of recognition crosses her face as she probably only now realized why I was asking. I suppose she wouldn't care about the tournament, she isn't a representative herself after all.

Houki merely shook her head and said, "Not really, aside from 1-1 and 1-4 I only know the class representative of class 1-3, is some Spanish girl named Isabeau Cardona." …Really? I am not looking forward to that rematch. Only 2 or 3 people above him offered the same challenge he had… If only because those autocannons were terrifying.

"Why would you care who the other class representatives are anyway?" Rin asked. Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be a hassle for some reason?

"There's some tournament where the class representatives get to show off their skills or something." Houki explained, "It's so stupid, those two are still at each others throats…" Really? Then again what little I saw of the two in question, England's representative cadet Cecilia Alcott and Bernard War Industries' 'Princess' Naname Bernard left me with the impression that those two really, really hated each other.

Rin turned back to me, a perfectly flat expression on her face, "Aren't you our class representative Ichika?"

"Yes…" I say slowly. I really do not like where this is going.

"Ah." And she went back to eating her ramen.

…Ah? Just Ah? I had figured that she had turned to me with such an expression because she was going to get inexplicably angry or issue some sort of challenge, like always, or something. Instead she just nodded her head slightly, said a single syllable, and went back to eating her ramen like nothing had ever happened. I don't even understand anyone anymore!

…

Oh right, I got the Salmon special. Better stop ignoring that. Mmm, Salmon.

* * *

Once again the last period of the day came rolling around and surprisingly I didn't 'randomly' smash my head into my desk any more. Just as class was about to begin someone raised their hand to get Chifuyu-nee's attention. Considering nee-sama is looking roughly in my direction I'd assume it was Rin whom raised her hand, a guess that was proven accurate a few seconds later.

"Excuse me, Chifuy-" Rin pauses in he speech as I none to discretely turn all the way around in my chair and stare at her for a second. Evidently she took the hint and corrected herself just in time to save herself from the attendance book of pain and misery, "Orimura-sensei."

Nee-sama, whose eye had twitched as Rin began pronouncing her first name, merely shook her head, "What is it Huang?" ...Well she's certainly annoyed if nothing else.

"Umm… Well I was thinking…" Odd… Rin isn't usually this hesitant in her speaking. She's far too bold to trail off like that normally, "Since some of us weren't here when you selected the class representative and I just so happen to be a representative cadet…" Oh, "…Is there any chance we could get a chance to… duel him for the chance to become the class representatives ourselves?"

"I second that!" …Of course you would Dan.

For what it was worth Chifuyu-nee honestly looked like she was considering the offer carefully for a second. In reality Rin, Dan, and myself knew the answer the moment the question was proposed. Chifuyu-nee could be nice from time to time but when a chance likes this comes up she always picks the option I don't approve of. With a very, very small smirk Chifuyu-nee calmly answered, "Of course, I suppose that is only fair after all. Is there any objections?"

I know better than to raise my hand, it wouldn't change her choice even if the entire class objected. Which surprisingly it did, or 2/3s of it at least. I'm going to assume that the entirety of both my fanclub in the class objected for obvious reasons and Shinji, for some reason, had as well causing his fanclub to also vote in my favor.

"Duly noted," Chifuyu-nee, to her credit, merely quirked an eyebrow at the response. Predictably, however, it had no impact on her ultimate decision, which was of course, "The duels shall be on Friday and Saturday at four o'clock in Arena 6." Of course there were groans of disapproval at that but Chifuyu-nee obviously ignored them all and said, "Enough! On with the lesson." And that was it.

Accepting of my fate I couldn't help but to lean back in my seat and sigh deeply. Thank you Rin. After spending 8 hours in just about constant battle the one thing I really wanted to happen was to get dragged into yet another duel. Let alone two.

Just.

Great.

* * *

A/N: Maldices = Curse/Damn you.

Not much to say about this chapter. Still looking for feedback about whether I should include Isabeau in Ichika's harem or not.

Someone asked what exactly Tabane was doing behind the scenes and I haven't responded yet because frankly I don't precisely know yet. She's going to show up relatively soon in the plot but whether it'll be from another golem or something a little more subtle, or blatant, I haven't yet decided.


	10. Armor vs Shields

Disclaimer: I own neither Infinite Stratos nor Armored Core. Can I stop doing these now?

* * *

Chapter 10

Armor vs. Shields

* * *

With the final class of the day done and over with I finally get the chance to get those extra 3 hours of sleep I was missing. And naturally my sleep gets interrupted. I really should've known better than to just assume that I could actually finish my sleep, lady luck seems to hate my guts for some reason. Regardless, I was woken by the sound of someone slamming open the door and loudly shouting something I couldn't quite make out.

"No." Madoka, whom had apparently been reading a catalog of AC parts, said firmly. That… was really Chifuyu like. Apparently I wasn't alone in thinking that as I could see Rin, whom had quite obviously been the one to smash open the door, noticeably flinch back even though my eyes were still rather blurry.

"What is it?" She flinched again. It honestly took me a second to realize how annoyed I must've sounded.

"I just said that I want to switch rooms with her," Rin points at Madoka. Now that I think of it I don't think I've actually introduced those two yet.

"And I said no." and Nee-san goes back to her catalog. Huh, perhaps I should get one of those at some point, might be helpful.

"But you must dislike sharing a room with a guy right? I'm not bothered by it since he's my childhood friend so I'm saying that we should switch rooms." …Rin, you should really stop basing your arguments on assumptions and use fact instead...

Madoka doesn't even bother looking up from her book, "I don't have a problem sharing a room with Ichika-nii, therefore you're problem is invalid."

"Ichika-_nii_?" Oh great, not this again…

"Of course. He's my long lost twin brother whom our mother separated me from." Madoka drawled with another flip of the page. Well, she clearly doesn't care about this situation at all.

Rin for her part just stared for a moment, opened her mouth to say something, failed to say anything, and repeated the process several times. Eventually she just shook her head and shouted, _"Bullshit!"_

…Just like Houki. No one is just going to accept it when she is the one that says it are they?

"It's true apparently." Now her attention is focused on me, Madoka on the other hand is still completely disinterested, "I asked Chifuyu-nee about it and she confirmed it. Then again, she was drunk when she explained it…"

"Huh? So that's why Chifuyu looked like she was hung-over today…" Madoka commented between pages.

Rin just sighs and decides to drop the subject, "Hey Ichika,"

"Hm?"

Odd, I don't recall ever seeing her play with her twintails like that since elementary school, "Do you still remember that promise you made?" Promise…? Why does she suddenly look so embarrassed? I'm not imagining that am I?

"Promise…" now that I think of it I do recall a promise from all the way back in elementary school, she'd even been using the exact same body language then as she was now, "You mean the one where if your cooking skills improved you'd cook sweet and sour meat-"

"Yup, that's the one!"

"-For me to eat right?"

It's been years since we made that promise, I'd honestly forgotten about it. Good thing she had started playing with her hair like that, I'd never have remembered otherwise!

"…What?"

"That was the promise right? That if you'd treat me to sweet and sour meat when you learned how to cook? Man, I'd almost forgotten about tha-"

'Master you're-'

SLAP!

'-an idiot.'

Eh? Why did I get slapped? And why was Direwolf calling me an idio- actually that's pretty normal for him, he says it even more than most anime Tsunderes. I blink and my gaze turns to Madoka who had stopped looking at her catalog and was… snickering. Slowly I look back at Rin and find her literally trembling with rage and looking like she was about to cry. Well that's not good at all.

I didn't even manage to say anything before Rin inevitably began shouting, "YOU'RE THE WORST! YOU CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER THE PROMISE YOU MADE TO A GIRL! GET BITTEN BY A DOG AND DIE!"

Almost faster than my eyes could track she grabs the Boston bag that I hadn't even noticed from the floor and charged out of the door like a rampaging bull…

"…What just happened?"

My only response was from Madoka-nee who just laughed harder. That's… just rude.

Great, now Rin's angry at me and I don't even know why… I'd say something else but even I know tempting fate is a terrible idea!

Apparently merely thinking of it was enough as only now did I realize one very important detail that I had been missing… today was Thursday.

* * *

Amazing how quickly a day goes when you know you're going to have to do something you really would rather not later on that same day. I was almost tempted to just skip out and let Rin win by default, I mean I didn't even want the position in the first place… But of course Chifuyu-nee would never let me do that and I know it. Somehow I get the feeling that it would only make the situation with Rin even worse, despite how odd that seems to me. Perhaps I just sense that Rin really doesn't care at this point and just wants to beat me into the dirt to get back at me for… I don't even know.

I hadn't actually talked with Rin all day, despite the fact that she sat directly behind me, only felt that single hard stare on the back of my skull the entire time. Rin can be scary when she wishes to be… Actually the first time I really looked at her all day would be now, and at the moment it's not exactly a pretty sight…

Clad in her IS Rin stood, or rather floated, before me like a vengeful ghost. A glare leveled at me as he floating shoulder pieces, or are they cannons, aimed directly for me. Shenlong, the most recent 3rd generation prototype IS developed and owned by China. It's a pretty intimidating sight, even without that glare Rin was giving me amplifying it and I just know that it has some sort of weapon hidden within, after all I haven't really seen anything that would classify it as a close combat AC…

"Both of you," Chifuyu-nee said through Direwolf's speakers, "Get into position."

And so we did, or at least as well as we could. Direwolf couldn't fly and the instructed position was in mid air so I merely stood directly below it. Rin was having her own problems, namely that she's overshot her position and ended up smacking her head on the arena's shield. Normally you'd run no risk of actually touching the arena's upper shield but in this case the shield roof had been lowered. I was told that the arena itself was built like such because it was supposed to force ground based close quarters combat and for an IS I suppose that would be true. For someone usually bound to the ground and unable to even reach the height of the shield roof this wasn't a hindrance in the slightest.

What was a hindrance was the lack of cover. The arena was entirely bare and the ground was flat with the exception of a small bump that had once been a crater or two, probably from weapons fire. Of course those were no help for me. It seems as if this arena was chosen to put both of us at a disadvantage, my lack of cover made evasion difficult and the lowered ceiling made Rin pay very close attention to her altitude lest she end up colliding with the roof once again.

"Ichika," Rin's voice came, "If you apologize now I'll make this less painful for you!"

"The pain would be nothing. I don't wish for my opponent to take it easy on me, it would make me look back when I win." The childish part of me couldn't help but to grin when I saw her eye twitch at my bravado, "We're both already at a disadvantage so come on," I raised my shield arm and made the typical kung fu movie taunt, "Show me what you got."

This battle would mean nothing if neither of us took this seriously. It's quite clear that Chifuyu picked this arena to provoke a melee confrontation and I refuse to lose in a direct melee confrontation to anyone except Nee-sama herself!

"How can you say that? The ACs don't even have shields, every hit will directly hit you!" She's underestimating Direwolf now is she?

"I have armor." Direwolf's mechanical deadpan broke into our conversation, "It would take nothing short of a bunker buster to directly impact my Pilot."

Whoa, wait a second. Did Direwolf just talk to Rin? I think this is the first time he has actually said anything to someone beside myself.

"Rather would you not be in greater danger?" Direwolf queried, "An IS's shields can only take so much before they're overwhelmed, even in a single hit. Is that not the case with the Yukihira master idolizes so much? A laser blade with such an output that it could directly pierce an IS's barrier with a mere graze..."

Rin's eyes narrow as he speaks but doesn't get the chance to say anything as Chifuyu-nee's voice once again cut the air, "Now, both of you, begin!" and a buzzer sounded.

Neither of us hesitated.

CLANG

Something pings off my shield, doing virtually no damage, a shot from those cannons of hers? With a mere thought my boosters up their power output and I'm flung forward three times as fast as before, my Dragonslayer activating on the way. At the sight of the laser blade I could barely see Rin flinch, clearly not having known I actually had one of them, let alone two…

But I never connect. With a single move she'd leapt straight over my attack and set me up for one of her own. I will a single booster to increase it's output dramatically and flip myself around before she could strike. Briefly she looked surprised at my rapid recovery but it didn't stop her assault. That massive sword, not quite a scimitar but very similar, had appeared from nowhere, and I had only barely managed to block it's deadly decent with my shield. The sheet force and the crushing weight of that sword… it was almost enough to make me stumble over especially from such an already uneven position.

I lunge forward using the combined force of my weight and Direwolf's boosters to push her sword back an-

"Naïve!" Those shoulder guards of hers slid open and a second later something hit my own shoulder pieces, blunting my momentum for a moment,

"Wha-"

A moment. Direwolf's boosters compensate immediately and before you could say, 'this will definitely hurt,' I ended up body checking her with my entire weight. Before she could properly recover I ignite one of my dragonslayers and slash at her, no doubt dealing immense damage to her shields.

Thus we ended up 5 meters apart again, this time one of us decidedly less arrogant.

Slowly I chance a glance at me shield, I'd noticed my AP dropping steadily throughout that entire encounter and towards the end there I could've sworn my AP started dropping faster… It appears that my charge managed to give her sword enough power to cleave my shield in half and while the arm below it was perfectly fine, if a little scratched, the shield itself was nothing more than dead weight…

"Shall I purge it, master?"

"Yes," and the useless hunk of metal that had once been a venerable shield fell to the ground in two.

Slowly I let my eyes trail over to my AP count and do a quick count to check my AP total… I've only lost 4000AP? Throughout that entire sequence of events I only lost 4000AP?

"Master, her projectile attacks are nothing to worry about," I quirk an eyebrow at Direwolf's words. Perhaps realizing what I was thinking he continues without prompt, "Those weapons, Dragon's Roars or Impact Cannons if this information is correct, fire compressed air in a railgun like fashion. While an incredibly advanced weapon capable of cutting a man in half with a single solid hit it has virtually no armor penetration capabilities making it little more than a distraction to an armored target such as myself." What…? There is no way I'm that lucky, "It seems like the impact cannons were made with nothing more than IS on IS combat in mind and while they fulfill that role better than you'd expect they have no purpose against all but the lightest of armored vehicles."

I suppose it makes sense, until now the only thing IS had to really fear was other IS and the concept of armor penetration simply wasn't needed. After all, the armor of an IS was paper thin, little more than decorat-

"Master, dodge."

I do so mindlessly, quickboosting to the side just in time to avoid taking one of Rin's huge swords to gut, where I incidentally happened to be located. Apparently I'd been conversing with Direwolf so long Rin had gotten bored and attacked. I really have got to stop spacing out like that…

PING

My left shoulder is jerked back as something invisible hits it for a mere 180 or so AP of damage. A distraction indeed. Even if it did very little damage the sheer force of the projectile knocked my shoulder out of the way enough to throw me off balance… I roll with it however, activating the frontal booster of the hit shoulder and twirling myself away before she could hit me again. Incidentally this brought me closer to her, in fact close enough that if I swung properly I could probably hit her with a dragonslayer… But I didn't. She wasn't the only one with weapons hidden in their shoulders after all.

"What!" Rin shouted in surprise as a pair of flash rockets collided with her shields. That was bright even though Direwolf automatically filters the flash before transmitting it to myself, I didn't dare even consider what it was like for Rin. I lash out with a dragonslayer only for it to connect with one of Rin's swords. Should've guessed she'd stand and fight blindly instead of retreat. I step back before her second sword could be brought into the fray and perhaps even hit me.

Then she shoulder-checks me with all the force something that defies the laws of physics possibly could. Completely unsuspecting of such a tactic I take the ram head on and end up laid out on the ground several meters away from her… That was a really hard hit, my AP had dropped by almost 10,000 with that single attack...

As I climbed back to my feet I couldn't help but to notice that Rin was still flailing about wildly. Perhaps my flash rockets did more damage than I had expected, I hope she's OK… I suppose I should put an end to this now. While I am worried that perhaps my flash rockets might've actually just made her legitimately temporarily blind I also realize that the longer this goes on the more damage I'll sustain and while dishonorable I actually have to pay for repairs, unlike her…

* * *

Remind me to apologize to Rin when I next see her, I can only imagine she's going to be extremely angry with me after… that. Regardless I won and will have to deal with a duel with Dan tomorrow as well. This is getting troublesome. Why couldn't Shinji have punched me out back in the battle royale? Then he'd be the one dealing with this crap instead of me.

As I drag myself back into my dorm after a 'quick' medical checkup I find Madoka nowhere to be seen and with a shrug waste no time moving to lie down. Of course it was futile, something was going to interrupt me anyway, there was never any doubt of that. For once though it wasn't something as 'absurd' as someone busting down the door or something but rather a chirpish sound in my left ear. Odd, sounds vaguely like a cellphon-

'Master, someone is calling you.'

Oh right. Direwolf has a built in cellphone. How did I ever forget? Wonder who could be calling at this time, it's just about Ten in the evening already.

"Hi, hi, are you high?" Question answered. The one person whom has absolutely no regard for societal norms whatsoever, Shinonono Tabane.

"Yes." I deadpan humorlessly. Why is she even calling me anyway?

Tabane actually chuckled, "Funny, Ik-kun." That nickname... "I've been meaning to call for awhile but you wouldn't happen to be interested in testing something for me would you?" Testing…?

Slowly I shrug, these sorts of things don't normally end that badly. At least as long as Tabane is involved at least, "Why not. What do want me to do?"

"Ah, I knew you would do it! Don't worry, I'm sure this will benefit you more than me for once!" …She's even more honest than I remember her, "I just need you to field test a few things for me."

"Huh?" she does realize I can't use an IS right?

"They're AC parts, a Generator, a Laser Blade, and an energy shield." Wait what? Evidently she picked up on my surprise immediately, "Hehe, are you surprised? I was watching your battles and decided one day that I wanted to make an AC part or two so…"

'Master we've received authorization to use 3 parts developed by a…Shinonono Tabane. All 3 are unregistered.'

"So there you have it! You're the only…" she paused slightly, trying to remember the correct term. Had I not been used to talking to her I probably wouldn't have even noticed, "…Raven I know so I figured I'd give them to you. Hope they serve you well~"

'Call disconnected.'

…Well that's Tabane for you. For _some_ reason I suspect the unstated reason why she bothered actually making those parts was rather because she was bored and wanted something new to do. Certainly _sounds_ like something she'd d-

It just dawned on me that Tabane Shinonono of all people just joined the AC business…

Well… that can't end well.

* * *

A/N: And these goes another chapter. Let's not try to super-inflate my word count with an absurdly long author's note this time.

My attention may shift away from this story for a while, I've got a story idea for another fandom in mind that I _may_ decide to actually write out.

Heh, the main thing the ACs have going for them at the moment is the fact that no one really knows how to explicitly deal with them. They're essentially ultra maneuverable tanks with enough weaponry to take out a careless (Shenlong) or poorly designed (The Golem Is) IS. The world treats the ACs like IS and use similar tactics and weaponry to attempt to take them out but their efforts show very little results since ACs can _barely_ be described as even remotely similar to an IS. This is what put Rin at such a disastrous disadvantage here.

EDIT: Somehow I still somehow inflated it by just over 400 words...


	11. Intermission: Corporations and Their Pet

Disclaimer: I don't own anything at all.

* * *

Chapter 11

Intermission: Corporations and Their Pet Projects

* * *

"Curse my poor planning… What time would that be in Japan again…?" muttered a brunette man in standard business attire to no one in particular. While he didn't exactly look old in the least he did look rather stressed. That he repeatedly kept checking his watch every two or three minutes as more and more finely dressed businessmen found their way past him only made this more apparent. With a sigh, he began pacing about in front of a window, not noticing or caring that his almost absurdly long ponytail occasionally ended up lightly tapping a red haired man seated on a bench near him.

"…Do you… perhaps have some other business you must attend to, Mr. Cardona?" The red haired man, Maxamilian Thermidor, drawled as the brown haired man accidentally caused his ponytail to hit him again. His question caused the other to awkwardly pause midstep.

"No, no…" said Cardona as he turned, "It's just that my son wanted to talk to me about something and I fear that if this takes too long I won't catch him before his school day starts…" The Spaniard paused, "And please, call me Alfano."

"Ah yes, that's right, you've sent Isabeau to IS academy as well didn't you?" The question was rhetorical and Alfano knew it. Not waiting for any recognition from the other Thermidor nods, knowing he's right, and continues, "I heard that he dropped another spot in the rankings. Odd, you'd think a flagship AC wouldn't be so near rock bottom."

"Yes…"Alfano merely frowns at the completely unsubtle taunt, "Apparently it inspired him to seriously climb in the ranks however and he ended up spending the entirety of the next day ranking." Noting Thermidor's inquisitive reaction Alfano smirks, "Currently he's sitting at D14. Incidentally, is that not a rank above your own sponsored Raven Shinkai?"

The Ravens and their ACs were the lifeblood of the corporations. Not only were the Ravens the Corporations' elite forces but they were also the most blatant showing of the Corporations' power. A corporation did not become great if its' Raven corps was small and weak. It simply didn't happen. It mattered not if your corporation designed an AC mounted weapon capable of eliminating an IS with a single shot, it mattered not if your corporation developed an AC that could run circles around all others, if you lacked a capable and loyal Raven your corporation was quite simply nothing but a failure and a waste of resources.

This was why corporations like Rayleonard and Arisawa Heavy Industries had become names uttered with reverence and fear throughout the world while other corporations such as MSAC International or Cougar were barely known even within the industry. Alfano's Cardona Industries had but a single Raven, the man's own son. Not only that but said raven was easily one of the lowest ranking ravens in the world with even recent recruits blowing past him with startling ease. On the contrary, some corporations like Global Armaments employed up to a dozen ravens either personally or by proxy. Other corporations such as Arisawa Heavy Industries had a handful of extremely capable ravens on their payroll. Rayleonard, put simply, had both.

While not the founder himself to many Thermidor was the face of Rayleonard Corporation. He headed the Public Relations department and was popular enough to have been voted as Canada's representative to the UN. He was also very well known as a condescending arrogant prick whom would not ever hesitate to tell someone what exactly he thought of them directly to their face.

Thermidor would've replied, likely pointing out that D14 was rather low for someone that had been a Raven as long as Isabeau had, had someone not interrupted him in a completely disinterested tone, "Cute." Both men abruptly paused at the sound of that mocking voice, "Come now, are you both going to start bickering like school children now? Maybe a little schoolyard tussle? Because that is exactly where that it looked to be going, gentlemen."

Both the men turned their heads and near simultaneously winced as they realized whom it was that had called them out. Dressed in an almost absurdly expensive 3-piece suit was Frederick Rayleonard, the well-respected founder of Rayleonard Corporation. In a fashion statement that was either amusing or intimidating depending on who your talking to at the moment the middle aged man actually wore a high collared gold trimmed black cape, like something straight out of a movie on magic and wizardry. The man himself found absolutely nothing wrong with the image at all. Were he not the man who not only created his corporation from the ground up but also the man whom designed the vast majority of his company's first generation parts, including the high performance 03-Aaliyah model AC, he'd no doubt be considered mad. But then again, could the same not be said of Tabane Shinonono?

The founder of Rayleonard gave neither of the others time to retort and continued on, "The meeting is already beginning. If you're both not too busy trying to one up each other I would most appreciate it if you wouldn't delay any longer."

Without another word he whirled around with a 'dramatic' swirl of the cape and disappeared through the doors he'd stood in front of. Neither Alfano nor Thermidor hesitated to follow him through, conversation completely forgotten. The entrance of the three men was only truly acknowledged by the elderly white haired man easily recognizable as Takafumi Arisawa. He gave no reaction however and continued paying attention to who was speaking at that moment.

"Although, I do note that he hasn't mounted any of them as of yet so I have no expectations of him joining Phantom Task." The speaker was the head of Ruined Country Weaving Corporation, Chisatsu Orimura, a women in her forties that quite frankly looked almost exactly like her far more famous daughter, Chifuyu. It wasn't exactly hard to guess whom she was referring to, even without having heard what led up to that sentence. The woman was rather well known for her willingness to go on and on about her children. A fact that was increasingly odd considering she'd supposedly abandoned _two_ of them…

"I see." Arisawa's voice was that of an interested man. Whether sincere or fake no one could know for sure, "And what of your project? I'm sure I'm not the only one whom wishes to know of your progress."

Indeed he wasn't. Chisatsu Orimura's Autonomous AC project was easily one of the most discussed subjects amongst the corporations. Some expected it to fail miserably, others believed her success to be inevitable, and a few dreaded the results due to either the implications or chances of how greatly the balance of power would shift. Regardless of why, everyone in the room instantly began to devote their full attention to the women that had just previously been rambling on and on about how proud she was of her only son.

"Oh yes, The Project." Chisatsu coughs to clear her throat, "Progress is going better than expected. While I was initially worried that only some cores would accept the extra hardware I have found that the cores that did accept the hardware were almost all extremely capable. They are rather independent however so I tend to let them to themselves while they are not in active testing. Unfortunately, while close I am still not ready to call the project a success just yet. I'd also like to note that with the extra hardware, the subjects are… as Madoka would put it, 'disturbingly human.'"

Arisawa furrowed his brow, "…How so?"

"They're capable of more free thought than I'd thought they would be." She shrugged, "Many of them have shown themselves to be capable of 'normal' human emotion. For instance Subject 36, Genova, displayed a bout of, for lack of a better term, Berserker Fury after Subject 35, Vienna, was destroyed by a cannon round fired from a South Korean navel vessel. While Subject 36 was subsequently also lost there… wasn't much of a ship left afterwards. Or it's escorts. I was more than a little surprised it didn't go after the lifeboats as well."

Chisatsu paused for a moment, letting the others digest the implications of what she had just said. After a moment, she continued, "Such emotion is rare however. All in all, I'd say that I could have a true Autonomous AC complete within the span of two or three months. Any questions?"

For a minute no one said anything.

Then Arisawa coughed, "If there are no other questions then I shall be moving on…" The elderly businessman scanned the room with his eyes for a moment before finding the person he'd been looking for, "Frederick, glad to see you decided to join us. I had heard news that brought your health into question…"

The head of Rayleonard rolled his eyes, "Bah, takes more than tuberculosis to put _me_ in the dirt. I assume you wish to ask of Project NEXT?" he guessed right and as Arisawa nodded in confirmation he continued on, "Very well, Project NEXT is nearing completion. The first two NEXT cores have already been developed. As they were made with my own countries IS cores I as such decided to implant them within AC Supplice and AC Orleans."

There were a few grumbles at that but no one actually went out on a limb and said anything about it. After letting them calm down for a moment Arisawa continued on to his next question, "And what of their combat capabilities?"

"There were some problems with that…" Rayleonard met Arisawa's inquisitive stare head on, "The PIC from the IS wasn't as effective for propulsion as intended, even the lightest AC is simply to heavy and it would require far more energy than I'm comfortable allocating to such a thing. As such I altered its use."

"You refer to this Primal Armor I've heard so many rumors of?"

"Yes. I won't bore you with the details so just think of it as a barrier that slows incoming projectiles and leave it at that."

Several men around the room scowled at that but otherwise said nothing. They couldn't just call Frederick out on telling them virtually nothing after all; such would make themselves look bad. While quirky, Frederick Rayleonard _was_ a very well respected man after all.

"Moving on…"

And with two words from Arisawa the meeting continued on…

* * *

A/N: My hasn't it been awhile since I last posted a chapter of this? Of course I suppose this isn't really a chapter now is it. No Ichika at all... Seeing as I haven't touched this story in little under a month, wrote a novel, I decided to ease back into things with this. Sorry it's so short though. I actually considered adding the Dan fight onto this and making this a full chapter but I figured that that would be a tad... cheap.


	12. Lughead

Disclaimer: I own neither Infinite Stratos nor any elements of the Armored Core universe.

* * *

Chapter 12

Lughead

* * *

'Master, Master wake up.'

Blearily I do, one hand almost instinctively rising to rub 'sand' from my eyes. I yawn, slowly taking in the dark atmosphere of my dorm. Madoka, my sister, was as always absent from her bed, what exactly does she do before school starts that would have her leave so early anyway?

…Wait is that the shower running?

Slowly my eyes trail over to my alarm clock, which read an almost absurd 5:13. If that didn't wake me up then what did?

'Master, there is something I wish to speak with you about.' Question answered.

'…At Five in the morning?'

'…' for once Direwolf, my loyal AC, hesitated, 'It is… personal I suppose the word would be.'

'…Now I'm really interested.'

'Master I'm sure you noticed by now but every other Raven we have faced have had an emblem pasted somewhere on their ACs.'

Now that he mentions it, yeah they did. From Amaya's simple number to Shinji's complex series of shape after shape every single AC I've fought both in person and in the arena have borne some sort of emblem, 'Now that you mention it… Is there some sort of special meaning to that or something?'

'It… more or less.' I quirk an eyebrow, Direwolf sounds a tad more… emotional than usual… did something happen when I wasn't looking? Ignoring my internal confusion Direwolf continues in an effort to explain, 'An emblem is like… proof that the AC you're looking at is actually the AC you think it is. It is a way to verify whom exactly one is facing on the battlefield when IFF ends up for some reason disabled. More than that… it's a way to show that an AC is tied to a specific Raven… It's complex, I don't expect you to understand.'

"No I understand." I pause realizing I'd actually said that aloud, 'Basically you're trying to say that you want me to choose an emblem for you?'

'Negative. I've made myself an emblem already and have already applied it to my left shoulder and for the moment my Physical Shield.'

'…Then what are you asking me to do?'

'I want _you_ to adopt _my_ emblem.' …And like that he lost me. Evidently he realized this as he continued, 'I want you to make it official basically.'

'Oh. That's all?'

'Yes master.'

'You know, now that I think of it, you've been acting kind of strangely recently.'

'I'm sorry?'

'Like that. Up until recently you only spoke in a mechanical monotone. Like a machine belting out pre-programmed lines.'

'Master… I am a machine.'

'But you don't act like it. Last I checked machines didn't make requests or wake you up at Five in the morning to speak about, quote unquote, personal issues.' Direwolf chose not to answer. After a moment a holographic window popped up in the air before me, a very clear sign that he'd chosen to ignore me. I don't know what to think of that really…

Glancing at the window I find that it was, as suspected, the emblem registration section on the Raven's Nest's website. The emblem in question was a chibified white wolf apparently holding a rather large sword in its jaw. Seeing no reason not to I simply pressed accept and yawned as the window disappeared, its purpose fulfilled.

I glance at my alarm clock again, 5:19.

No point in losing an hour of sleep over something minor like this now is there?

And with that thought my head hit the pillow once more…

* * *

Explosions.

Direwolf had warned me that Dan's AC used nothing but explosive weaponry but this? This is just absurd! Dan's AC, the Kuroshi, used nothing but explosives. In both hands were held Battle Rifles, a fancy way to say 'small caliber grenade launcher,' and both back units were occupied by grenade cannons. All of which was built upon a heavyweight reverse jointed AC that had a surprising amount of agility all things considered. I was told that grenade cannons and heavy weight ACs were Arisawa Heavy Industries' specialties but I had no idea that they were _this_ effective!

I barely have any time at all to maneuver as Dan keeps up such a steady steam of fire with those two cannons that I can barely move out of one's blast radius before another was launched which easily took off about 2000AP each every time I get caught just on the edge of an explosion and couldn't bring my shield to bare. I had even tried sending out my Orbit Cannons but every single time Dan ends up ramming into them before they do too much damage to him. End result? It was nearly 2 minutes into the battle and I was down to just over 10000AP while he was just over 30000AP.

There's just one thing I have to ask about this whole situation: How much ammo do those things carry?

The mechanical deadpan that I have come to know responded, "Those appear to be Arisawa Heavy Industries' Ogato model Grenade cannon, I believe they should only carry about 24 rounds." I dodge another salvo, making sure to keep my distance, "He has however fired 28 rounds."

'28 rounds out of supposedly 24?' I think for a moment as I barely dodge another salvo, 'Wait, wait, wasn't there a shoulder part that increased ammo supply?'

"Correct Master, Brumble which increases the room allotted to your ammo storage by upwards to 25%."

I do some quick mental math with the calculator installed in Direwolf, "Then counting that last salvo he should only have 1 shot in each cannon left."

'Correct master.'

He fires again and I quickboost twice to get out of the way. That _should_ be it…

Sure enough, as I thought he folds up his cannons and raises his battle rifles. While not anywhere near as dangerous as those grenade cannons his Battle Rifles were still very powerful, especially taking into consideration Direwolf's low CE defense. Perhaps I should forsake armor altogether? Lord knows I need the speed…

It's fairly apparent I won't last until he runs out of ammo in those too. I've taken _far_ too much damage and I'm willing to bet that those battle rifles of his can take off at least 1000AP per hit…

Hmm… wait why does this situation sound familiar to me?

* * *

"Did he just start bum rushing him…?" Chifuyu deadpanned while staring at the arena below. As Ichika began taking a round or two here or there she began shaking her head with a sigh upon her lips, "That fool. At this rate he'll lose."

Behind her, in the otherwise front row of the arena stands, a certain brunette Spaniard spoke up, "Actually, ma'am, it looks like he's about to win." Chifuyu looks back with an expression that clearly said, 'Explain. Now.' Isabeau, not at all used to it raised his hands in a gesture of surrender before continuing, "Ichika's a melee combatant isn't he? At this point he can easily shrug off a few hits to get to close range and-" The crowd went silent for a second, "-make a dramatic last second one hit victory…?"

Beat.

Chifuyu facepalmed, a heavy sigh escaping her lips, "…You were saying?"

The boy merely followed Chifuyu's example, his palm meeting his face with a particularly loud smack. Below in the arena Ichika's comeback had met an unfortunate end when he ended up taking one Battle Rifle round too many and ended up crashing and burning into the ground before his opponent. How Dan managed to get such an awkward AC to do a victory dance was unknown to even Shinji, "...Or he'll just fail miserably."

* * *

"Aww, Cheer up!" Madoka-nee pats my back. Pat being a synonym for 'hit very, very hard,' "It's not like you wanted the position in the first place!" It had been a few hours since the duel that I had lost, horrifically. By this point I had, somehow, managed to have gotten Direwolf set up for his auto repairs. Now we were back in our room, Madoka sitting next to me on my bed in an effort to comfort me over my loss.

Now that she mentions it I suppose she is right on that one… In fact I still don't want to be the class representative and deal with opponents like Isabeau and his autocannons of doom again. I was more miffed that it was _Dan_ of all people that had dethroned me. Dan whom almost always quickly and throughly beat me in that IS fighting game of his, Dan. More than a little disappointing…

No, it was less 'who' I lost against and more 'how' I lost against him. I do not believe that throughout that entire match I did any meaningful damage to him at all. All he needed to do was stay at a distance and rain down explosive hell upon me and I could do naught by try and dodge extremely accurate, and damaging, shots…

Perhaps I should rethink my strategies?

I'm not Chifuyu-nee, I haven't taken on the world with a single sword and won before and while it has served me well so far… Amaya had me undeniably beat in melee combat, it was only, dare I say it, Maria that had saved me there… Ditto for Orleans, I had to resort to dirty tactics to beat him, although he did appear to be proud of me for that one... Shinji probably could've taken me down in a melee with a pair of ammoless _sniper rifles_... and Isabeau, while apparently very weak in melee still managed to almost take me out in much the same way as Dan…

"…Have I been mimicking nee-sama too much…?"

"Eh?" I suppose my rhetorical question was rather random.

I wasn't looking for an answer. I knew very well that I was right. I was mimicking Chifuyu-nee, trying to do almost everything with a sword… But I wasn't her. I wasn't some legendary IS pilot that could fly halfway around the world in a little under hour and defeat an entire nations army with seemingly little effort… In the end I was a copycat, and worst of all, a one trick pony.

'Think Ichika, the ACs are not the weapons of a brute but the weapons of a thinking man. As long as you know how to pick your fights you'll do great. The lughead that charges straight in is nothing more than a dead man.' Stated by Orleans at the end of our duel in the battle royale. Now I understand what exactly he had meant with those words.

"Madoka-nee…" I didn't bother checking see whether or not I had actually gotten her attention or not, "Direwolf mentioned that your AC was a mid-long range lightweight…"

"Yes... What of it?"

"Why?" My question was vague and I know full well that if someone asked it of me I would in all likelihood respond, 'Why what?'

But Madoka wasn't me, "Preference…" She didn't sound so sure however, as if she were unsure whether or not she should be answering my question or not, "Consider me the black sheep if you wish… but I just feel more comfortable with a laser rifle in hand rather than a laser blade. That's why I use a blade as merely a secondary weapon."

"I see…"

"Nii-san… you're acting weird… I know you lost but…"

"I'm fine." I say softly, dismissively, moving to stand up. A smile tugged at my lips as I stood for now I know exactly what I'm going to do. Should I be surprised that Madoka-nee did not even bother trying to stop me as I began to leave the room? It really doesn't matter.

This Lughead's got something he needs to do.

* * *

Shinji looked up at me as I entered his workshop with an expression that was somewhere between surprise and bemusement. It was the same expression Tabane used whenever I'd managed to surprise her when I was younger. He took one last look down at the half finished, and probably very delicate, machinery upon his bench before simply shrugging and turning all his full attention to me, "Ichika?"

I don't bother wasting time, stating my request immediately, "I'm in need of some advice."

"Ho?" Now Shinji was really interested and I knew it. I could've gotten sound advice from Orleans about this, Amaya was just as likely, even Madoka could've given me a satisfactory answer without me even needing to leave the room I had been in. In the end however I chose to go to Shinji Hikaru, the creator of the Direwolf and all the other AC cores, to get an answer.

Subtlety was never my thing but humility wasn't exactly it either, hence I could only picture the look of surprise that spread across his face as I kneeled before him like a vassal begging forgiveness, "Will you teach me how to build an AC?!"

He was silent for a few seconds, no doubt slowly taking in the absurdity of what had just fallen into his lap before finally, slowly, saying, "Wait… what…?"

* * *

"So basically it was too late to change class representatives?" Dan asked. Despite the fact that Chifuyu had just cheated him out of a position he earned he honestly sounded rather amused with the whole thing. Then again, it's Dan; he probably never wanted the position in the first place and in all likelihood just wanted to take the chance to fight me. If that was the case he could've just sent me an invite for the arena? I mean sure, we couldn't do an order match but we certainly could have a random brawl! Chifuyu-nee's been giving me that disappointed look of hers because of you and it really hurts…

Actually, that was probably his intention in the first place…

"Basically, yes." Chifuyu-nee bluntly replies, not even bothering to look up from her paperwork. While we were in the classroom it was actually the beginning of our hour-long lunch break, something that even a big eater like Dan agreed was excessive. Chifuyu-nee as always decided to take the time and go over her class plans for the day, her simple lunch sitting nearby for the most part ignored. Should I be worried that there were more papers than usual in that pile?

"…And you didn't tell us why?" Dan was very clearly on the verge of laughter at this point, a nice little sign that he honestly didn't care about the position in the least.

"You didn't ask." Chifuyu responded in her usual blunt manner, "The Student Council finished and finalized the tournament match-ups before your duel with Ichika even began. While you will become the class representative it can only happen after the tournament."

And Dan finally began laughing, not mad in the slightest, and 'patted' me on the back, "Haha, good luck bro." For a second I was confused before I finally caught sight of a paper that had been hung on the wall since Friday, the tournament roster. It didn't take me long to find my name, all the way in the middle of the sheet, but when I did I could only facepalm as I realized why he was wishing me luck. My first match was with the representative of class 1-3, Isabeau Cardona…

Dan, why could've you have transferred sooner?

* * *

A/N: I think i'm starting to get back in the swing of things. Still a relatively short chapter but between Direwolf blatantly showing true sentience, Ichika getting stomped, and Ichika having an epiphany I think I got enough plot into this one...

Yes, Ichika lost to Dan. Yes that battle scene may seem a tad cheap, after all most of it was Ichika doing simple math, but let's be frank, the outcome of this battle was obvious from the moment you heard 'grenade' and realized that Ichika had absolutely no prior experience with these types of will be a rematch: One where Ichika (hopefully) doesn't get completely curbstomped...

And props to Matchstick800 for helping me brainstorm a name for Dan's AC.

I know some of you were wondering about the exact mechanics of Tabane's AC parts but in the end I ended up putting off the mounting of said parts for at least 2 chapters. Sorry about that...


	13. The Silver Haired Knight of Cerebus

Disclaimer: [Insert Generic disclaimer here]

* * *

Chapter 13

The Silver Haired Knight of Cerebus

* * *

"That should do it." I say to no one in particular as I look over my ACSIS screen. I had just finished modifying Direwolf, taking Shinji's advice into account. As it stands Direwolf could now fight both at extreme close range and at long range although emphasis was still on close range. While I really should've gone and modified Direwolf's hull itself instead of just its weaponry and internals I wasn't quite ready to shell out… THAT many AU…

"Looks good rookie, weight and energy consumption are well balanced, though your generator capacity seems rather…" Behind me I could just tell that Shinji shrugged, "That's to be expected when dealing with so many experimental parts it seems." He was referring to the fact that I had gone ahead and mounted Tabane's AC parts. He in particular seemed rather critical of the Generator and Laser Blade.

Tabane's Generator was rather… quirky, so much so that I merely had to look at its stats to understand as much. The output was almost absurdly high but the capacity was likewise almost absurdly low. According to Shinji it seemed to be a part meant for 'bladers,' those that used laser blades and not much else, and was designed to give as much energy as possible as quickly as possible. He warned me that I had to pay special attention to my energy reserves when using it, get too ahead of myself and I'll be nothing but a sitting duck.

By contrast the laser blade, called the Byakushiki, was, in Shinji's words, 'The most overpowered piece of junk ever.' It had a borderline absurd energy drain, so much so in fact that when activated alongside my boosters Direwolf's energy output would exceed his generator's output by nearly double. With the capacity of the generator itself that meant you could only possibly manage to activate it for less than 2 full seconds. However, it also boasted a blade over three times the length of my previous dragonslayers and the capability to deplete an AC's AP completely in under a second of direct contact. It was a terrifying weapon to be sure but not in any way, shape, or form practical.

With that in mind I honestly have no idea why I dared to mount that monster. It was so… out there that Shinji himself practically begged me for Tabane-nee's phone number so he could, quote unquote, 'Fix this monstrosity.' I don't know whether it was a good idea or not to actually give him Tabane's cell phone number or not but I did anyway. I didn't dare think of what would happen if Tabane's… quirkiness rubbed off on the man who just intentionally or unintentionally completely overhauled society itself… again…

Both of those parts meant that I had to get more tactical, something my recently reinstalled recon units would definitely help with. I learned from Isabeau… the ability to see through walls was definitely something I could use...

With a yawn I lean back in my chair, glancing at Direwolf as he had a cannon like weapon attached to his back, another new addition. I wonder what he does during times like these? This is after all the only time he isn't connected with my brain or some such. Behind me I could hear Shinji yawn as well and stand up, presumably stretching. We had been at it all night, after all. Never would've guessed that ACs were so complex… And to think we hadn't even gone over defenses and tuning as of yet.

"That's enough for the moment…" Shinji murmured between stretches, we'd been sitting in more or less the same position the entire time after all, "Wouldn't want to miss breakfast would we?"

Beat.

His words sink in as I finally snap my head to the clock on the wall. It was really 5:00 AM. I hadn't thought so much time had passed! I'd ended up pulling another all nighter! No wonder I was so hungry, I hadn't eaten anything in about 10 or so hours!

Shinji, perhaps sensing my internal plight, patted me on the shoulder yawning himself, "Well today is going to suck isn't it?" I nod slowly, already dreading class, "You should get some practice with that weapon layout before the tournament, it wouldn't be good if you went in blind now would it." At my nod he began moving for the door, "Great, now come on, almost time for breakfast."

* * *

"So, Ichika-nii, how was your night?"

I resist the urge to smash my head into the table solely because my breakfast was currently there. Were I finished already I probably would've cracked the table with my forehead. Why did Madoka-nee have to bring that up?

"Oh? Did Ichika have trouble sleeping or something?" Rin asked lowly, as if honestly hoping that I had. Perhaps that flash rocket had been a bad idea after all... I mean she quite obviously still wasn't over it…

"Nah, he probably just did something stupid like staying up all night on a school day or something." Dan… you're not helping at all.

Houki scoffed, "He's not stupid enough to do that so soon after the last time." While I admire the effort that just makes me feel stupider, Houki.

I sigh choosing to scarf down another hunk of Salmon instead of saying anything. I know when it's generally a better idea to just shut up and let everything pan out without me and this was probably one of those times. Dan realizing why merely smirked and followed my lead knowing he had been right. How does he do that anyway? Am I really that predictable for him?

In other news after Dan's victory he'd actually accumulated a remotely notable fan club. Apparently they'd been for the most part avoiding him before since he had a rather… playboy air about him most of the time but since he beat me without a scratch... Luckily it was mostly my fangirls he had stolen so I owed him at least a trip down to his favorite Korean place. Wonder how long it'll take before the fangirl madness finally hits him like a gigantic flaming semi going a hundred?

As the silence begins creeping back up on us I finally decide to say something to confirm Dan's statement, "Dan's right. I had gone to get help from Shinji about my AC and we ended up working all through night…"

"…Oh?" Madoka sounded rather proud, "Good thinking. You won't find anyone out there with more experience with AC theory than him." She shrugged, "Still hurt you didn't ask me first though." I pointedly ignore her, from experience knowing that to be the best defense to such a jest. Eventually she chose to change the subject realizing that her barb had no effect, "Mount any of Ruined Country's parts?"

I could see both Houki and Rin raise an eyebrow at the name. A name like that would be rather attention grabbing after all. I wonder why… Mother chose it anyway, if she was indeed the one whom chose that name? It seemed to invoke nuclear imagery… Perhaps that was the whole point.

"Yes actually." I saw no harm in answering that between bites, "That back mounted cannon thing, the Innocence was it?"

"R-really?" I have no idea why she would be so surprised by that?

"At least you're actually preparing for the tournament…" Rin murmurs bitterly, "I still can't believe Chifuyu actually did that…" Yeah, she's definitely still holding that Flash Rocket against me. She's even branching out against Chifuyu… Although, to be honest, even I question Chifuyu-nee's judgment on that one, and I'm the one that benefited from it!

Dan shrugs, a bemused expression upon his face, "You realize of course that I hadn't actually wanted the position in the first place right?"

"It was still rather cheap." Houki commented between bites. She was a rather quiet person after all.

"I completely agree." I actually feel mildly offended by both Houki and Rin's questioning glances. Don't they know me better than that…? Regardless I say nothing more seeing no point to doing so.

"So~ anything else I should know about, Ichika-nii?" I'm just going to assume she's still on the topic of my changes to my AC. Wait, come to think of it…

"Actually yeah, there was something else now that I think about it…" I turn to Houki whom looks up at me with mild surprise, "Um… Have you talked to Tabane recently?"

Houki narrowed her eyes ever so slightly, a very minor change that made her look infinitely more intimidating, "No." A simple one word answer that was said in such a way that really, really, demonstrated just how much their relationship had apparently fallen apart.

"Oh… I was hoping that you could tell me how she reacted to-"

"She thought they were cool." She interrupted me with an eyeroll, already knowing exactly what I was going to say, "She called me a few months ago and told me to watch the news report about your first appearance then went on and on about how 'cool' your AC was." She sighed deeply, "She was acting like such a child so I dismissed everything she said and assumed she was talking about some anime that had caught her attention…"

Dan blinked, just now realizing something, "Wait a second, you're related to Taban-"

"I am not." Houki said firmly, her glare sweeping over to poor Dan. Dan just froze on the spot, unable to even raise his hands in surrender. What a terrifying girl…

Wait. Did I just blatantly change the subject on Madoka-nee? Oop-

Ah- My Salmon!

* * *

A silver haired girl crossed her arms, surveying the carnage before her. The carnage that she had caused. The carnage that she had trained to cause. The carnage that she had literally been bred to cause. Husks of ACs and shattered hulks of what had once been tanks, several decades out of date. The infantry that had relied upon them, their APCs destroyed, had scattered to the four winds. There was nothing she could do about that, lacking in dedicated anti personnel weapons as she was.

The entire engagement had begun with her hyper sensors picking up the formation following a valley into South Korean territory little over five minutes ago. After a minute in which it was confirmed that no UN forces besides herself were supposed to be in the area she had been given authorization to fire at will. At the time the order had been given they had been little over a thousand meters away and showed no signs of acknowledging her presence. Even though they had already been well within her range she waited until they advanced for two more minutes before she opened fire with her 20mm Railgun, the visible centerpiece of her IS.

It took just five seconds for her railgun to cycle projectiles. It took a third of a second for her projectiles to reach their mark, each with pinpoint accuracy. A single shot was all that was needed for each target. The moment the projectile cleared the barrel she began moving her gun to the next target, zeroing in, and exactly five seconds later firing. There was no escape. They had been too far into the valley for even a single one to escape back out. They had entered her kill field and there was nothing they could do to get back out.

The tanks were literally torn in half, some cooking off their full load of shells in their last moments, some just exploding as the plasma that trailed her projectiles ignited their fuel supply. Both at once occurred more likely than not. The ACs however merely took a single hit before dropping with no visible damage. She suspected that the armor eliminated the projectile itself but could only somewhat negate the force behind the projectile. Considering how much force actually went into a single shot from her railgun she was fairly sure that while the ACs themselves were for the most part undamaged, the pilot themselves had likely been killed.

Oh the things one takes for granted when commanding something that bends physics itself to its will.

Her mission complete for the moment, all she had to do was wait for the recovery teams. Not for her completely undamaged IS mind you, but rather for the mostly undamaged ACs she had just taken out. The ACs were still a relative mystery to the UN after all and the capture of working ACs were rather high priority. This mission had been more than _just_ a success.

And so Laura Bodewig, Germany's more prominent Representative Cadet, merely waited. Her arms folded across her chest and a smirk tugging at the corner of her lips…

* * *

A/N: Aaand Laura. Enough said.

Schwarzer Regen is a terrifying, terrifying IS once one realizes that in war most engagements occur across such great distances that with the range of a Railgun augmented by some sort of pseudo magical vision no one would ever even be able to return fire. I actually had a rather lengthy conversation with one of my reviewers, Foldguy24, about what would be the best methods for an AC to take on the absolute monster that is Schwarzer Regen. Some of the things that came up in that conversation is definitely going to make an impact on that later chapters. I really need to flesh out AC IS combat as so far it may seem that I'm severely overpowering the ACs, which is not my intention. This brings me to my next point...

I'm sorry if it appears that I'm underpowering the IS but do be aware that every IS Ichika has run into so far had various circumstances about them that made them easier to take out. The Golem I's for instance were implied to be the prototype for the Golem II that appeared during Rin's fight in Canon. Not all prototypes are super prototypes after all. Cecilia's pride _severely_ hampered her in her 'fight' against Naname Bernard way back when, and Rin's put a tad too much faith into her Impact Cannons, not anything to really fault her for, I mean who would've thought... Ichika's first real fight with a competent IS will occur at the end of the representative tournament arc...

Also I can just imagine that an IS's Hyper Sensor actually make Flash Rockets more effective than against even infantry. Enhanced Vision can suck sometimes...

This is still a shorter chapter than most but that felt as good a place to leave off as any. I had nothing further planned until the Pre-Tournament so I decided to cap it all off with an early appearance for Laura. Also, the fact that an IS had been deployed should say alot about the state of the UN at the moment considering that such breaks the Alaska Treaty. Then again, since the ACs were also under the Alaska Treaty (technically) I suppose you could say that the corporations broke it first and the deployment of the IS was the UN's response. Still doesn't change the implication that the war(s) have started going so badly for the UN they have started _panicking _and released the IS.

R&R and have a nice day!

My, I've just noticed I forgot that line for the last few chapters... Oops. Either way, you never know when reading a review may break my writer's block...


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